Steve review – Cillian Murphy is outstanding in ferocious reform school drama
Adapted by Max Porter from his novella Shy and co-starring Little Simz, Emily Watson and Tracey Ullman this brutal but ultimately hopeful story is fiercely affecting
Deaf Republic review – a town under military occupation falls defiantly silent
Ukrainian-born Ilya Kaminsky’s book-length poem is a potent theatrical force of many moving parts – signing, speech, surtitles, even a drone hovering over the audience
The best recent poetry – review roundup
48Kg by Batool Abu Akleen; Paper Crown by Heather Christle; New Cemetery by Simon Armitage; Red Carpet by Steve Malmude, edited by Miles Champion
Domination by Alice Roberts review – a brilliant but cynical history of Christianity
The humanist historian brings objects to life beautifully, but falters when it comes to people and their beliefs
Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan review – coming-of-age tale has the makings of a classic
A 12-year-old girl from a family of gamblers and greyhound racers grapples with adulthood as her home life disintegrates in this sharp and empathetic novel set in 1970s Brisbane
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler audiobook review – a masterclass in marital disharmony
A mother reflects on the breakdown of her marriage as she attends her daughter’s wedding, in a novella that brilliantly depicts family dynamics
Fires Which Burned Brightly by Sebastian Faulks review – a grief-infused puzzle of a memoir
In his account of postwar childhood and literary success, the novelist hints at pain he is unable to address directly
Jumanji review – startling 90s game fantasy adventure with Robin Williams in winning form
Williams is exuberant but controlled as elephants trample the town and a waterfall crashes down the stairs in bizarre fantasy that still holds up
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan review – behind the American dream
This luminous and tender 20th-century saga of wounded souls and small-town secrets has a deep melancholy
On Swift Horses review – Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones simmer in glossy drama of sex and identity
Things are not as hetero as they appear in this handsome melodrama framing the postwar period as one of searching for meaning beyond the picket fence
Shamiso by Brian Chikwava review – a globe-trotting coming-of-age story
Though audaciously told, this portrait of a young woman’s twisty journey from Zimbabwe to Brighton doesn’t quite hang together
Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi review – love, war and betrayal
Troubled by a photo of her grandmother living it up in Mussolini’s Italy, the author of Free delves into archive and memory to uncover the truth
The Two Roberts by Damian Barr review – lost story of a gay art duo
The lives of Scottish artists Bobby MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun, who found love and fame and lost it all, are vividly reimagined
A Short History of Stupidity by Stuart Jeffries review – comfortably dumb?
From Shakespeare’s fools to Donald Trump, this exhilarating read considers stupidity in its many forms
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith review – a terrific, tightly plotted romp
With four murder inquiries in play, JK Rowling’s eighth Cormoran Strike novel avoids the page-padding longueurs of previous volumes – but will he finally tell Robin how he feels about her?