This Too Shall Pass by Julia Samuel review – how to cope with change

In a sequel to Grief Works, the therapist guides us through major life changes in work, love, identity and health

The Voice in My Ear by Frances Leviston review – sly, truthful stories

A series of infuriating mothers and difficult daughters populate a poet’s captivating first collection

The best recent science fiction and fantasy – review roundup

The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart by Margarita Montimore; The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley; By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar; Providence by Max Barry; and House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko review – surreal but relatable short stories

Ghost stories, demons, skeletons … traditional tales with a feminist twist

The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong review – a swaggering, incendiary debut

The use of dialect in this autobiographical Scottish debut about gang culture, drugs and sex is dazzling

A Race With Love and Death by Richard Williams review – Britain’s first great grand prix driver

A splendid account of the dashing times, and tragic end, of Richard Seaman, a British motor racing star in the 1930s, who met Hitler

A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry review – an ambitious sequel to Days Without End

Narrated by a young Native American woman, the follow-up to Barry’s Costa winner again displays the rare gifts of a natural storyteller

Sitopia by Carolyn Steel review – a utopian vision that begins with food

We are out of step with our planet, so how should we live? Cheap food is an oxymoron and anarchism’s time may have come, argues this wide-ranging, stimulating book

The Impossible Climb by Mark Synnott review – can you ‘free solo’ El Capitan?

This description of Alex Honnold’s ascent without a safety rope is as gripping as a thriller

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones review – a tale of two sisters

From the winner of last year’s Women’s prize, a wise and moving story about two teenagers linked by their bigamist father

Apeirogon by Colum McCann review – new perspectives on Israel-Palestine

A compendium of the conflict mixes fact with fiction to create a profound account of pain and healing

The Beauty and the Terror by Catherine Fletcher review – the dark side of the Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance in Italy was an era of terror and oppression more than beauty – but is its great art complicit in injustice? Should we rethink the Mona Lisa’s smile?

Titian: Love, Desire, Death review – whims of the gods made flesh

The artist’s epic series of paintings drawn from the poet Ovid hang together for the first time in three centuries, and tell a tale of sex, power and subversion

Heavy by Dan Franklin review – metal gets serious

More than just guitar power chords ... a weighty discussion of metal, for both passionate fans and neophytes

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor review – who killed the village witch?

This deep drill into violence, femicide, homophobia and misogyny in rural Mexico is savage and necessary