The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen review – high emotions

This Costa prize-shortlisted novel travels to Burundi and back

Confession With Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach review – behind the Berlin Wall

Fragments of a childhood are pieced together in this moving depiction of a family’s struggle, shortlisted for the Costa novel award

A thrilling millennial take on the 19th-century novel of manners investigates race, friendship and privilege

A serial killer’s amnesia; an assassin’s success; a boy’s bond with his kidnapper … dark and funny tales reflect a changing political climate

We are living in a golden age and can defeat negativity, argue John Tierney and Roy F Baumeister in this complacent, reactionary book

A compelling and wry narrative of one of the most intellectually thrilling eras of British history

This empty-hearted conclusion to Coetzee’s allegorical saga feels like an elaborate joke at the reader’s expense

A young widow tries to make sense of her husband’s death in a wild and distinctive debut

Another page-turning history from Dan Jones, satirical versifying for the Brexit age; and an atmospheric 1970s rock novel

This epic history of man’s relationship with the oceans – from pirates to the slave trade – is one of the books of the year

It looks set to be a vintage year for lovers of the novel

Greta Gerwig brings the entire March family to life like never before in a respectful but bracingly current version

This collection of correspondence between the critic and the poet as their marriage fell apart provides a riveting study of ethics and betrayal

One woman’s extraordinary career in the wake of death, decay and disaster

Wandering wolves, wild grannies and an angel on Paradise Street, a tribute to the titans of black history and more