The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas review – how Austen’s reputation has been warped

A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on Austen’s readership

The Tailor of Gloucester review – tabby triumphs in custom-made show

Brightly designed, this jaunty version of Beatrix Potter’s seasonal tale boasts a scene-stealing Simpkin the cat

Idiot Wind by Peter Kaldheim review – a road trip across the US

A ‘freelance dealer’ escapes drugs, debt and New York in a Reagan-era memoir

The Pulse Glass by Gillian Tindall review – hidden histories and heirlooms

An exploration of loss and remembrance told through inherited and found objects is revelatory yet reticent

A tale of two Carols: Dickens’s festive feast served with a twist

This year, the tried-and-tested tale at London’s Old Vic is up against subversive surprises at Wilton’s Music Hall, where Scrooge’s sister takes the lead

I Wanna Be Yours review – a love story with heady chemistry

Ragevan Vasan and Emily Stott star as a couple pulled apart by their backgrounds in this play by slam poet Zia Ahmed

Aivali: A Story of Greeks and Turks in 1922 by Soloup review – a moving graphic novel

The traumas of the Turks and Greeks forced to flee their homes a century ago are drawn with moving simplicity and speak clearly to today’s refugee crisis

Oi Frog and Friends! review – a wild time for fans of rhyme

Jumpy new student Frog overcomes his starting-school nerves in this exuberant musical adaptation of Kes Gray and Jim Field’s picture books

A Radical Romance by Alison Light review – a tender but oblique memoir

Alison Light’s account of her marriage to the historian Raphael Samuel is both admirable and frustrating

The Tiger Who Came to Tea review – a charming, faithful adaptation

Snowman and Snowdog producers Lupus Films have made Christmas treat from Judith Kerr’s children’s classic

Frost Fair by Carol Ann Duffy review – icy perfection from a curator of cold

Duffy’s beguiling short ballad, illustrated by David De Las Heras, pithily explores London’s ‘Great Winter’ of 1683

Endland by Tim Etchells review – brilliantly horrible short stories

There are no happy endings in this nastily funny phantasmagoria set in a warped version of England

Kochland review: how the Kochs bought America – and trashed it

Christopher Leonard has produced a relentless accounting of the brothers grim which somehow concludes with sympathy

Christmas book clinic special – our experts’ gift ideas

From medical memoirs to bittersweet romance, short stories to gay histories, our panel offer their recommendations

Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver review – dark goings-on in the Fens

Themes of religion and control are examined in this creepy gothic novel about a recluse