Zonal by Don Paterson review – rich, masked musings on midlife crisis

The prize-winning poet’s new collection, inspired by The Twilight Zone, is a witty, wily hall of mirrors

The Better Half: On the Genetic Superiority of Women review – bold study of chromosomal advantage

Sharon Moalem offers an intriguing theory on how two X chromosomes give women the edge in everything from colour vision to coronavirus

Dorothy Day review: biography of a radical rebel is the masterpiece she deserves

John Loughery and Blythe Randolph achieve wonders in their life story of one of Francis I’s four morally exemplary Americans

One Two Three Four by Craig Brown review – all about the Beatles

Humour and skilful writing bring alive a collection of anecdotes that retell the Beatles story

Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth review – the great chicken heist

An enthralling caper about a plucky band of activists with a crazy plan to free 900,000 battery hens in Iowa

Every Drop of Blood review: how Lincoln’s Second Inaugural bound America’s wounds

Edward Achorn delivers a fascinating account of an address which entered the national consciousness

Circus of Books review – tender doc about family life and gay porn

An affectionate and absorbing documentary from film-maker Rachel Mason about her devout parents, who ran a famous adult bookstore in early-80s LA

Endell Street by Wendy Moore review – the suffragette surgeons

A fascinating, carefully researched study of life partners who became pioneering army hospital doctors in the first world war

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan review – a witty, deadpan debut

A young Dubliner in Hong Kong struggles to connect in this fresh and funny debut about love and self-knowledge

Hood Feminism and Feminism Interrupted review – non-white women take back power

Mikki Kendall and Lola Olufemi have each written a book that explores how the urgent needs of women of colour are often buried by mainstream feminism

The Infinite by Patience Agbabi review – time-travel adventure

An engaging autistic 12-year-old is the heroine of this eco-thriller that marks poet Agbabi’s debut for young readers

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot by John Lloyd review – the question of Scottish independence

This book by an established journalist argues that Scotland’s secession from the UK would be a disaster. But it fails to recognise the extent to which England has changed

Britain’s War by Daniel Todman review – a new world at home as old power is lost

Todman’s ‘total’ history of the second world war considers the texture of people’s lives as well as military events. This second volume is as skilful as the first

The Frightened Ones by Dima Wannous review – love and loneliness in Syria

This multilayered tale of revolution and displacement explores the psychological fallout from living under a brutal dictatorship

Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell review – how to survive the End

Imagined doom ... an acclaimed writer confronts ideas of the end of civilisation, meets those preparing for it, and manages his anxiety