What Not by Rose Macaulay review – a forgotten gem
This forerunner to Brave New World is a protest against social control with a love story at its heart
The Pact We Made by Layla AlAmmar review – a passionate debut
A fascinating glimpse into the life of a contemporary Kuwaiti woman and her place within conservative Arab culture
Reasons to Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe review – pitch-perfect vintage comedy
A comic novel about love, lust and social angst at the dental surgery vividly evokes English provincial life in 1980
What Dementia Teaches Us about Love by Nicci Gerrard review – savage realities
A powerful and beautifully written account, centred on the experience of the author’s father, and identifying a crisis in care
Pie Fidelity by Pete Brown review – in defence of British Food
From pork pies with mushy peas to the full English fry up … a sentimental celebration of a nation’s traditional grub
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World – review
Anand Giridharadas’s study explains why charity begins at home for billionaire philanthropists
It’s Not About the Burqa review – courageous essays
An impressive collection looks at Muslim women’s lives in modern Britain
London Made Us: A Memoir of a Shape-shifting City – review
Robert Elms on the extraordinary transformation of his native city
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
A bipolar artist hunts down a killer in Peter Swanson’s best thriller yet and two Nordic noirs unsettle and delight
Doggerland by Ben Smith – review
A skilful, bleak debut novel set on a vast coastal wind farm
In brief: Untitled: The Real Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor; The King’s Evil; Circe – reviews
A sympathetic biography of Edward VIII’s American wife, an enthralling Restoration crime thriller and Madeline Miller’s excellent retelling of The Odyssey
Horizon by Barry Lopez review – nature in the raw
A lifelong wanderer’s tale of harsh landscapes is powerful but opaque
The Other Americans by Laila Lalami – review
Detective story with slow revelations of US family life
The Awfully Big Adventure: Michael Jackson in the Afterlife by Paul Morley – review
The recent disturbing Jackson revelations date this otherwise entertaining study of the man and his legacy
The Language of Birds by Jill Dawson – review
The story of Lord Lucan inspires a novel that gives voice to the victim