The Master of Contradictions by Morten Høi Jensen review – how Thomas Mann wrote The Magic Mountain

A vivid account of the creation of one of literary modernism’s greatest achievements

The Dead Don’t Bleed by Neil Rollinson review – a gripping tale of family and forbidden love

Two brothers attempt to escape their father’s gangland past in a tense, tender debut that moves between Thatcher-era Northumberland and southern Spain

Cape Fever by Nadia Davids review – a power struggle between mistress and maid

Set in a colonial city after the first world war, this story of a battle of wills between an elderly widow and her young servant is deftly told

The Zorg by Siddharth Kara review – scarcely imaginable horrors at sea

A vivid and chilling account of the deadly voyage that triggered the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade

The English House by Dan Cruickshank review – if walls could talk

A deep dive into the creation of eight buildings from the 1700s to the 1900s tells some very human stories

This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin – set to be a standout novel of 2026

From an acclaimed short-story writer, this epic of power and class across generations in Pakistan is brutal, funny and brilliantly told

The Cat by Georges Simenon review – Maigret author’s tale of a toxic marriage

The Belgian author’s genius comes to the fore in a dark domestic drama

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy; Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan; The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace by RWR McDonald; Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino; Your Every Move by Sam Blake

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell audiobook review – the life and loss of the woman behind the Bard

The wife of William Shakespeare takes centre stage in a rich, sensitive examination of parental grief, sensitively narrated by Jessie Buckley

Ice by Jacek Dukaj review – a dazzling journey to an alternate Siberia

The 1908 Tunguska comet changes the direction of history and gives rise to a weird new reality in this acclaimed epic from the Polish author

Converts by Melanie McDonagh review – roads to Rome

A thought-provoking examination of the literary stars who became Catholic – from Evelyn Waugh to Muriel Spark

Bowie: The Final Act review – moving and enjoyable tribute to music legend’s last stand

Singer’s final decades can’t really be called his creative golden years but there are touching contributions from his collaborators

Killing the Dead by John Blair review – a gloriously gruesome history of vampires

Shroud-chewers, lip-smackers and suckers populate this fascinating study of ‘the unquiet dead’ across the centuries

Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen review – why was my mother so cruel to me?

The American author uses fiction to explore the life of her Chinese mother as she seeks to understand the violence that marked their relationship

Capitalism by Sven Beckert review – an extraordinary history of the economic system that controls our lives

The Harvard professor provides a ceaseless flow of startling details in this exhaustively researched, 1000-year account