Treacle Walker by Alan Garner review – a phenomenal late fable
A convalescent young boy is visited by a mythical wanderer in a deeply evocative exploration of storytelling and time
The best recent translated fiction – review roundup
Prizewinning short stories from Denmark; plague in Russia; a French bestseller; and a mid-century classic of hedonistic wanderers
The Lost Lending Library review – immersive family show champions the magic of books
Punchdrunk Enrichment’s site-specific project for children aged six to 11 turns a historic building into a secretive library
Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins review – gloriously interwoven tales
The classical stories of eight weaving women are depicted on their looms’ warp and weft in this thoughtful, dazzlingly illustrated collection
Skin by Sergio del Molino review – a meditation on psoriasis and the psyche
A sufferer writes about how the skin condition affected figures as diverse as Joseph Stalin, John Updike and Cyndi Lauper
7½ by Christos Tsiolkas review – sumptuous but unsettling autofiction that eschews the political
Responding to rolling catastrophes, the Australian author turns inwards, with a celebration of eroticism and beauty that occasionally undermines itself
Free by Lea Ypi review – a memoir of life amid the collapse of communism
The Albanian academic describes coming of age at a turning point in history, and the family secrets exposed in its aftermath
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone review – 20 years on, it’s a nostalgic spectacular
The first film in the franchise is re-released into a very different world – but it’s as entertaining and exhilarating as ever
Harlots, Whores and Hackabouts by Kate Lister review – a history of sex for sale
A study of the sex industry from ancient China to New Orleans’s red light district is undermined by its own salaciousness
Life Without Children by Roddy Doyle review – stories about lockdown and loss
Tender and humorous tales explore our need for connections with others in a world made strange by Covid
Passing review – Rebecca Hall’s stylish and subtle study of racial identity
Hall’s directing debut stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as friends who are both ‘passing’ for what they are not in an adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel
The Earthspinner by Anuradha Roy – love, loss and longing
The story of a Hindu potter’s love for a Muslim girl is full of myth, history and the chance to turn earth into something new
Black Paper by Teju Cole review – a spark of hope in dark times
From Caravaggio to Edward Said and Black Panther, this astonishing collection of essays explores art, politics and belonging
Bioluminescent Baby review – ode to the insect world
Fiona Benson’s collection of poems about fireflies, mosquitoes and the like takes us into a glowing parallel universe
Born in Blackness by Howard W French review – dehumanised in the age of discovery
The scale of the west’s exploitation of Africa and Africans in the pursuit of economic power is laid bare in this painful, passionate retelling of Eurocentric history