Small Island review – Levy’s Windrush epic makes momentous theatre
Andrea Levy’s story of first-generation Jamaican immigrants in postwar Britain has been skilfully adapted and staged with hurtling energy
Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri review – a voyage to empowerment
Combs, braids and Bob Marley’s bad-hair days are explored in this richly researched cultural history
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi review – love and loss in Oman
This family saga is the first novel from the Gulf to be shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize
The Dollmaker by Nina Allan review – a haunting literary experiment
Two doll obsessives come together in this moving fable of otherness shot through with imaginative intensity
Our Man by George Packer review – Richard Holbrooke and American power
An account of the major dilemmas, and egotism, of the top diplomat doubles as a dissection of America’s global status
Kathy Acker review – a voyage to hell with the pirates of desire
This Babylonian beast of a show crashes the New York avant garde of the 80s into today’s transgressive talents, with Acker as its visionary guiding spirit
Stone Men by Andrew Ross review – the Palestinians who built Israel
A secret no one likes to talk about: how the West Bank settlements are built by Palestinians forced off the land
Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile by Alice Jolly review – a lyrical tour de force
This rolling free-verse epic charts the life of a 19th-century servant in rural Gloucestershire during a period of political upheaval
Upheaval by Jared Diamond review – how nations cope with crisis
Nativism, complacency, suspicion of neighbours … this timely study warns that democracy is fragile
Sunday’s Child by Serena Katt review – war, propaganda and collective blindness
Serena Katt’s attempt to make sense of her grandfather’s ties to the Hitler Youth is extraordinary
Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane review – extraordinary and thrilling
An epic odyssey into our underworld
Clear Bright Future by Paul Mason review – a manifesto against the machine
A tub-thumping, if slightly confused, account of the threat posed by AI and big tech
A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths by John Barton – review
A priest and scholar’s masterly study of the Bible takes it out of the hands of zealots
In brief: A Good Enough Mother; Character Breakdown; Take Nothing With You – review
A thoughtful novel from Bev Thomas, a keenly observed memoir from Zawe Ashton and a poignant coming-of-age tale from Patrick Gale
Angels: A Visible and Invisible History by Peter Stanford review – thought-provoking and wise
They feature in western culture from John Milton to Robbie Williams, but what is their role in our secular times?