Trick or Treat by Lisa Morton review – a history of Halloween

A sparkling investigation of ‘the most misunderstood of festivals’

Hollow Places by Christopher Hadley review – dragons and the nature of history

This ingenious book, a compelling wild goose chase, begins with a tomb and traces a legend through a thousand years

These stories about an irascible yet winning Maine widow have the amplitude and emotional subtlety of the most comprehensive novels

Wild ambition and 1980s hedonism in a tale of two damaged teenagers obsessed with Princess Diana

A brutal rendering of daily life in Gaza is a picture of innocence corrupted

A woman strays from the path into a menacing fairytale world in a riddling novel set in colonial‑era New England

Creating machines smarter than us could be the biggest event in human history – and the last

This animated adaptation of Bunyan’s 17th-century religious allegory features some scary demons but the rest is pretty tame

First published in the late 1940s, this searing tale of bereavement and loathing feels all too relevant today

This delightful romp through centuries of cheesemaking will make you ravenous for Renegade Monk

This vision of a near-future Britain caught in cycles of flood and drought is an urgent story for our times

Frances Hardinge and Liz Hyder create rich worlds, while Holly Bourne explores toxic love

The rapper places his troubled childhood at the heart of this ultimately uplifting memoir

The master storyteller’s latest is spiced up with political references but the ultimate enemy stays the same

Crack’s devastating impact on US society in the 80s and 90s