Ancient by Luke Barley review – the secret history of Britain’s woodlands

A former ranger tells the story of how the UK’s forests intimately shaped – and were shaped by – its people

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li audiobook review – a deconstruction of grief

The author’s prize-winning memoir about losing both her sons to suicide is a calm, sensitive account of ‘radical acceptance’

On Not Climbing Mountains by Claire Thomas review – impressive, for a patient reader

This ambitious novel follows a grieving woman who distracts herself with research on famous names who had connections to Switzerland

The Unfragile Mind by Gavin Francis review – a GP’s guide to mental health

Powerful case studies can’t make up for this book’s superficiality when it comes to the broader issues

Railsong by Rahul Bhattacharya review – a heartfelt tale of life on the Indian railways

We follow one woman across decades of change in this deeply compassionate novel of independence and dreams

Evening All Afternoon review – Erin Kellyman makes blazing stage debut as spiky stepdaughter

The 28 Years Later star joins the impressive Anastasia Hille in Anna Ziegler’s two-hander about grief and family

My Bags Are Big by Tibor Fischer review – how to make it in crypto

Amusing oddballs populate a wise-cracking wheeler-dealer’s tale of leaving London for Dubai in search of loot and laughs

Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block review – a true ‘Misery’ memoir

A compelling and fitfully harrowing child’s-eye account of a mother’s unravelling

Bird Grove review – George Eliot’s true story embellished in a tender drama

Elizabeth Dulau is terrific in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play as the young woman set to become a daring pioneer in fiction and real life

Suckerfish by Ashani Lewis review – the ordeals of having a difficult mother

This is a wry and likably feisty account of the destructive power an unstable parent can wield over her offspring

Nonesuch by Francis Spufford review – a dazzling wartime fantasy

Dark magic, fascism and romance in blitz-stricken London: this exuberant novel is a popcorny delight

All You Need Is Kill review – time loop anime offers giant alien flower for Groundhog Day with mechs

New version of the sci-fi day-on-repeat sees a perplexed duo repeatedly battle monstrous plants but leaves you feeling as bored as the protagonist appears

As If by Isabel Waidner review – surreal doppelganger story

Two uncannily similar men switch places in an existential farce that playfully explores the precarity of working life

Politics Without Politicians by Hélène Landemore review – could we get rid of Farage, Truss and Trump?

A Yale professor’s radical proposal to replace elected leaders with ordinary people, chosen by lottery

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Barbecue at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey; A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver; A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford; Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo; A Stranger in Corfu by Alex Preston