The Coward by Jarred McGinnis review – the road to redemption

A tender, brutally funny autobiographical novel deals with the aftermath of an accident that leaves the narrator in a wheelchair

Dark as Last Night by Tony Birch review – 16 new vignettes from a master of the short story

The perspective of children is central to Birch’s stories, which meld humour and sorrow with an eye for cheeky detail

Three Rooms by Jo Hamya review – on belonging and inequality

A fraught, polemical debut novel about precarious work and housing, and the effects on women’s ambitions

Tove review – impassioned portrayal of Moomins creator lights up biopic

The story of Tove Jansson’s artistic struggles and daring bisexual affairs in 1940s Finland is energised by a shining central performance from Alma Pöysti

Meet the Georgians by Robert Peal review – tales from Britain’s ‘wildest’ century

Twelve stories of magnificent – if not moral - lives recall the fun and fizz of an unjustly overlooked period of British history

Martin Eden review – Jack London’s thrilling tale of hollow success

This Italian adaptation of London’s 1909 novel follows the ascent of a proletarian novelist to popular success which proves a bitter disappointment

Everything Went Fine review – wonderfully observed story of assisted dying

André Dussollier and Sophie Marceau are outstanding as a father and daughter whose tricky relationship is upended when he asks for her help to die

Fear Street Part 2: 1978 review – summer camp slasher is another winner

Netflix’s flashy RL Stine trilogy continues with a darker Friday the 13th-aping horror that brings more shocking gore and excellent performances

Notes on Grief review – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie essay sketched on stage

The novelist’s article about her father’s death was expanded into a book and has now become a play but it feels limited

Panic As Man Burns Crumpets by Roger Lytollis review – the death of local news, read all about it

A former reporter writes with clarity and poignancy about the privilege of telling people’s stories and the managed decline of local journalism

Between Two Worlds review – Juliette Binoche goes undercover in the gig economy

Emmanuel Carrère’s drama – based on Florence Aubenas’s bestseller Le Quai de Ouistreham – fails to probe fully the injustices faced by low-paid workers

The Travel Writing Tribe by Tim Hannigan review – an elitist genre?

Travel writing used to be dominated by Old Etonians with colonialist tendencies; but this well-researched critique shows that the ‘travellees’ are writing back

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor review – sexuality and suffering

The Real Life author’s stories smudge the margins between queer and straight, interior lives and the exterior world

Poetry book of the month: Lyonesse by Penelope Shuttle – review

Combining two collections in one, the veteran poet immerses us in a mythical kingdom in this extraordinary flow of work

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino review – from auteur to author

You’ve seen the film, now read the director’s own novelisation. And it turns out that his way with words is infectious and fun