Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’
Three Texas authors expose the myth that the 1836 battle at a San Antonio mission was about freedom. It was about slavery
Children’s books roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Wild island adventures, journeys in self-discovery, TS Eliot’s cat – plus the best new YA novels
Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw review – an intimate family portrait
A Malaysian novelist of Chinese descent explores his roots – and the shadow of family trauma
Forever Free review: how education fails Black children – and how to put it right
Tracy Swinton Bailey has written an inspiring book about Freedom Readers and how to use literacy for good
More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman review – a true tale of survival
From Tito’s gulags to a kibbutz … this is a powerful retelling of a Jewish woman’s extraordinary life, and of a family’s emotional trauma, from the author of A Horse Walks into a Bar
Our Ladies review – choir of convent schoolgirls cuts loose in Edinburgh
This adaptation of Alan Warner’s The Sopranos is led by a terrific ensemble cast – though some of the gags feel dated post #MeToo
Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman review – escape to the west
This thrilling page-turner digs into history of a tunnel beneath the ‘death strip’ and marks 60 years since the Berlin Wall was built
The River review – Jean Renoir’s ethereal coming-of-age romance
Religious symbolism abounds in this dreamlike story of a teenager’s loss of innocence in pre-independence India
The Story of Work and The Man Who Mistook His Job for His Life review – pride in a job well done
Nine to five for 700,000 years: two books show that working for a living can be a mammoth undertaking – especially when hunting real mammoths
The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach – a homage to 18th-century fiction
Jas Treadwell’s picaresque adventure is a virtuoso performance that resonates with our own strange times
What You Can See from Here by Mariana Leky review – a tonic in troubled times
Worldly woes come to a small village in this German bestseller sprinkled with fairytale magic
Crude Britannia by James Marriott and Terry Macalister review – a harrowing read
A story of missed opportunities and industrial decline is told with rare insight and vivacity
Being You by Professor Anil Seth review – the exhilarating new science of consciousness
Our world and the self are constructions of the brain, a pioneering neuroscientist argues
Fiction and nonfiction for older children – reviews
The latest instalment of a dystopian saga thrills and Stormzy’s #Merky imprint champions national and unsung stars
More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman review – the personal is political
An Israeli family’s journey to Croatia throws up secrets that illuminate their pain in a beautiful exploration of the lingering power of history