The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld – review
A remarkable debut novel about a Dutch farm girl and her strict Christian family is unflinching and disturbing
Rake’s Progress: My Political Midlife Crisis by Rachel Johnson review – all the fun of a Johnsonian farce
Rachel Johnson’s account of her role in the Change UK party fiasco is pure guilty pleasure
A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump review: dispatches from a time before the virus
David Plouffe went to the White House with Obama then predicted a Clinton victory. Has he learned from that reverse? Have we?
On Ajayi Crowther Street by Elnathan John and Àlàbá Ònájìn review – graphic novel
Family dramas, feuds, death and disgrace in a Lagos-set morality tale
Nightshade by Annalena McAfee review – portrait of the artist as a troubled woman
The drama of creation and the expert rendering of the artistic process enhance the story of a woman’s struggle
Radical Acts of Love by Janie Brown review – making sense of the end of life
A counsellor recounts twenty stories, each capturing a different person’s unique experience of dying – and looks for the positive
The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld review – a fearless vision of toxic masculinity
Spirits haunt this gothic tale of male violence against women, set across three time frames on the coast of Scotland
The best recent crime novels – review roundup
The Recovery of Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel; Keeper by Jessica Moor; The Man on the Street by Trevor Wood; Black Rain Falling by Jacob Ross; Summer of Reckoning by Marion Brunet; and The Clutter Corpse by Simon Brett
Greenery by Tim Dee review – journeys in springtime
A superb nature writer follows the spring as it moves north from Africa to Europe, with swallows as his guide
The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld review – a family’s grief
Tragedy shapes the darkly ritualistic world of three children in a Reformed farming family, in this bestseller from the Netherlands
Cured by Jeffrey Rediger review – stories of spontaneous healing
The power of placebos, faith, yoga, love … a psychiatrist explores cases of miraculous recovery from illness
Inferno by Catherine Cho review – a brilliantly frightening memoir
‘In hell’ ... an unforgettable account of postpartum psychosis and a mother’s spell on a psychiatric ward
A History of Solitude by David Vincent; A Biography of Loneliness by Fay Bound Alberti – review
In these isolating times, are you enjoying solitude or, very different, are you suffering from loneliness?
Thinking Inside the Box by Adrienne Raphel review – adventures with crosswords
The charm of the crossword, from its origins in US newspapers to its use as a novelist’s plot device
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah review – surrealism in Seoul
A haunting and dreamlike wander through the intricacies of Korean society by a radical and prize-winning author