The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski review – a delicious comfort read

A decaying gothic mansion tells the story of the family who once lived there, in this pitch-perfect debut of disappearances, betrayal and despair

The Manningtree Witches review – Ava Pickett’s gripping follow-up to Tudor hit 1536

The targets of the infamous 17th-century ‘witchfinder general’ narrate a powerful play based on AK Blakemore’s novel

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley audiobook review – a topical time-hopping romance

Actor Katie Leung narrates this genre-bending debut in which an Victorian Arctic explorer is catapulted into our brave new world

Department of the Vanishing by Johanna Bell review – brilliantly, terrifyingly plausible

In this wild little miracle of a book, an Australian government office is tasked with cataloguing the casualties of the Anthropocene

Gloria Don’t Speak by Lucy Apps review – tender portrait of a woman with a learning disability

Longlisted for the Women’s prize, this ambitious debut journeys into the inner world of a vulnerable teenager who is left traumatised by a toxic friendship

Tales of the Suburbs by John Grindrod review – queer goings on behind the curtains

From ‘gaybours’ to treasure hunts in Tunbridge Wells, a tragicomic history of LGBTQ life outside the big city

The Bride! review – Jessie Buckley is electrifying as frizzy-haired, black-tongued monster’s wife

The actor has a blast as bride to Christian Bale’s lonely creature in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s darkly comic and gleefully bizarre reimagining of the 1935 film

Chasing Freedom by Simukai Chigudu review – a powerful memoir of postcolonial unease

A historian and exponent of ‘Rhodes must fall’ explores how political liberation doesn’t always bring personal freedom

The Quantity Theory of Morality by Will Self review – raucously inventive state-of-the-nation satire

Thirty-five years on from his debut collection The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Self takes aim at London’s chattering classes in an excoriating vision of moral decline

They by Helle Helle review – a novel to make the reader slow down and take notice

Minimalist but never austere, this mother-daughter portrait from the Danish author finds its power in everyday detail

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved review – sword, sorcery and smartphones

Those not up to speed on the Miss Kobayashi manga may struggle with the full nuance of this dimension hopping anime, but the visuals are stunningly to look at

The Last Kings of Hollywood by Paul Fischer review – the rise and reign of Spielberg, Lucas and Coppola

An epic account of how three demigod directors, in pursuit of indie freedom, redefined American film-making

Becoming George by Fiona Sampson review – the remarkable story of a cross-dressing 19th century novelist

A reappraisal of one of literature’s most sensational personalities, the author of more than 70 books

The Daffodil Days by Helen Bain review – virtuoso portrait of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath’s final year

Portraying the breakdown of the couple’s marriage through the eyes of the people around them, this deeply researched and utterly convincing debut is an astonishing achievement

Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

A mission to grow plants in the desert; a potato’s adventures; a film-maker’s dreams; wartime bravery; a feminist fantasy and more