Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist review – a good man turned murderer
This 19th-century tale of injustice at the hands of authority and the chaotic consequences of revenge speaks to eternal truths
Misha and the Wolves review – a stranger-than-fiction exposé
A bestselling Holocaust memoir is revealed to be a fraud in an intriguing doc that fails to hold the author accountable
Break-Up: How Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon Went to War review – the scandal that rocked Scotland
David Clegg and Kieran Andrews’s account of the Alex Salmond court case and the internal politics of the SNP is a gripping story of power games and hubris
An Elephant in the Garden review – a tale that will never be forgotten
Michael Morpurgo’s story of a family fleeing Dresden in 1945 resonates today, animated by Alison Reid’s uncanny acting
The Tick of Two Clocks by Joan Bakewell review – home and away
The broadcaster’s account of downsizing and ditching a lifetime of objects is wonderfully told, if enviably stress-free
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney review – author of her own discontent
Despite the dazzling dialogue and familiar delights, Rooney’s story of a young prize-winning writer is her most demanding book to date
The Afghanistan Papers review: superb exposé of a war built on lies
Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post used freedom of information to produce the definitive US version of the war
All In by Billie Jean King review – game, set and match
A vivid and inspiring autobiography by the woman who took on the tennis establishment and won
Cuba review: American history of island neighbor is telling and timely
As Ada Ferrer writes, ‘Cuba – its sugar, its slavery, its slave trade – is part of the history of American capitalism’
The Lost Daughter review – Olivia Colman lights up Elena Ferrante psychodrama
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s accomplished directing debut makes humid, sensual cinema of Elena Ferrante’s novel
Dune review – blockbuster cinema at its dizzying, dazzling best
Denis Villeneuve’s slow-burn space opera fuses the arthouse and the multiplex to create an epic of otherworldly brilliance
The best recent poetry – review roundup
All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus; The Sun Is Open by Gail McConnell; Single Window by Daniel Sluman; The Kids by Hannah Lowe
Rizzio by Denise Mina review – the men who took aim at Mary Stuart
The crime writer’s daring, hard-boiled take on the brutal murder of Mary, Queen of Scots’ private secretary
The Magpie Wing by Max Easton review – a bleak, exceptional portrait of millennial flailing
Sprawling out from its heart of western Sydney, Easton’s debut novel tracks three friends as they attempt to find meaning in a world offering them little
The Turning Point by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst review – sparklingly informative
An intriguing new biography of Charles Dickens reveals how 1851 changed him and the world around him, making him the writer we still remember today