Not Even This by Jack Underwood review – fatherhood, philosophy and fear

A poet confronts his anxieties about becoming a parent in this free-wheeling meditation on the theme of uncertainty

The best recent science fiction and fantasy – reviews roundup

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon; Dark Lullaby by Polly Ho-Yen; We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker; The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley; and The Cottingley Cuckoo by AJ Elwood

This month’s best paperbacks: Richard Osman, International Booker nominees and more

Here are some outstanding new paperbacks for May, including Osman’s bestselling crime caper, Adam Buxton’s memoir and a fascinating study of eels

Doom by Niall Ferguson review – how to make sense of catastrophe

A study of horrible afflictions, from famines to pandemics, and our failure to learn from past mistakes

Painting Time by Maylis de Kerangal review – a bravura achievement

A celebration of the art of trompe-l’œil confirms this French prize winner as one of our most gifted stylists

Fury by Kathryn Heyman review – a memoir of righteous anger and poetic transformation

Heyman’s novels explore male power, control and violence. Now, she turns her sharp storytelling skills and lyrical prose on her own life

Johnny Mnemonic review – Keanu test-drives early Matrix prototype

Keanu Reeves is in impeccably robotic form as a data courier on the run in this 1995 adaptation of William Gibson’s cyberpunk story set in 2021

Post Growth by Tim Jackson review – life after capitalism

The ecological economist adds to his message that relentless economic expansion is killing the planet with a set of more philosophical reflections. But does ‘post growth’ offer as many answers as the Green New Deal?

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri review – a fascinating shift

Lahiri’s first novel to be composed originally in Italian focuses on a narrator adrift, free from the anxieties of biography and geography

Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith – a great, grim slab of postwar angst

This long-awaited epic makes superhuman strength an unsettling backdrop to family drama

Little Fish review – all-too-brief encounter in the midst of amnesia pandemic

Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell are the young couple trying to preserve memories of their romance in this story of doomed love

King of Rabbits by Karla Neblett review – a heartfelt debut

Family breakdown is observed from a child’s perspective in a novel about poverty, race and inherited trauma

Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism by Mark Hussey review – a meticulous portrait

A revelatory biography of the Bloomsbury outsider and influential critic who championed modern art

The Premonition by Michael Lewis review – a pandemic story

The Big Short author tackles the US handling of Covid and the ‘superhero’ scientists who tried to save the day

Picture books for children – reviews

From boys forging strong friendships to confused mammoths waking up in New York, these illustrated tales gently unlock young emotions