Dead Souls by Sam Riviere review – a brilliantly entertaining debut
This evisceration of the small world of English poetry combines meticulous analysis with despairing intimacy, recalling the comic rage of Thomas Bernhard
Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser review – a wonderful tumble down the rabbit hole
Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonInspiring everything from Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit to Heston Blumenthal’s mock turtle soup, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland continues to feel delightfully modern
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
US politician Stacey Abrams triumphs with a conspiracy in Washington, plus a Du Maurier-esque chiller and the dark world of a life coach
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon review – an electrifying gothic techno-thriller
A force-of-nature teenage mother escapes from a cult into the wilderness in Solomon’s audacious third novel
Peter Rabbit 2 review – James Corden’s unfunny bunny scampers back
Voiced by Corden, Peter tumbles into a life of crime in a part-animated caper that’s occasionally cute but mostly bland
Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe by Niall Ferguson review – information overload
This dizzying history tour of disasters takes its lead from Covid, and China’s role in ‘cold war II’, but offers little clarity
Paint Your Town Red by Matthew Brown and Rhian E Jones review – how Preston took back control
This account of the ‘Preston model’ fails to address to what degree it works
In brief: The Wolf Den; In Love With Hell; Brixton Hill – reviews
A historical novel set in the Roman sex industry, a dark study of alcoholic writers and a thriller with a social conscience
Featherweight by Mick Kitson review – a punchy historical yarn
The rollicking story of a female bareknuckle boxer in Victorian England makes creative use of the novelist’s family history
The Nightingale by Sam Lee review – a heartfelt love letter to the songbird
The folk singer offers a lyrical homage to the endangered migrant bird whose uniquely beautiful song he has been communing with up close for years
Why Solange Matters by Stephanie Phillips review – celebration of a free spirit
The author and punk musician draws parallels between her own life and that of the genre-blurring sister of Beyoncé in this hymn to black individualism
Burning Man: The Ascent of DH Lawrence review – purgatory and paradise with a wild prophet
Frances Wilson’s book is as magnificently flawed as its subject – and a work of art in its own right
Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie review – the malicious surprise
The author reflects on the loss of her father, mourned at a distance during the pandemic, in an exquisitely written tribute
Last Days in Cleaver Square by Patrick McGrath review – memory, ageing and guilt
A veteran of the Spanish civil war is visited by the ghost of Franco in a deftly handled story of past trauma and deceit
If You Were There by Francisco Garcia review – a missing persons report
A sensitive investigation challenges our understanding of what it means to be missing, and how it feels for those left behind