Patient X by David Peace review – a curious collage
David Peace’s attempt to inhabit the mind of the late, tortured Japanese author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa exposes the limitations of his style
The Drugs That Changed Our Minds by Lauren Slater – review
Twenty years after hailing antidepressants in her memoir Prozac Diary, a now jaded, sceptical Lauren Slater revisits the psychopharmacological industry – with uneven results
Book clinic: recommended novels by contemporary female authors
From Leila Slimani to Nina Stibbe, our expert selects the best female writers of modern fiction
The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal review – life on the fringes of sweeping change
An exile looks back on her Irish childhood and lost love – and yearns for something greater
Civilisations by David Olusoga review – a riposte to European superiority
A subversive response to Kenneth Clark’s series deconstructs the notion of civilisation and charts the effects of greed, hubris and disease
Thomas Paine by JCD Clark review – a High Tory on the radical hero
The veteran enfant terrible of English historians sets out to rescue the author of Common Sense from ‘from the enormous approbation of posterity’
Mothers by Chris Power review – a daring debut short story collection
A compelling examination of alienation, absurdity and the things that are left unsaid
Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels
Griffins and Goorialla, knights and spies – and all the fun of a feast
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin review – is it better to know your own fate?
Debauchery and wild times turn to frustration and fear after four siblings are told the exact dates on which they will die
The Wood by John Lewis-Stempel review – a fortress against agribusiness
Pheasants, pigs, sparrowhawks and holly share a handful of acres in this heartfelt and evocative diary of a year among the trees
From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan review – waves of compassion and anger
The lives of a Syrian refugee, a heartbroken carer and a crooked moneyman cross with poignant results
Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich review – new findings from ancient DNA
Using advances in DNA sequencing, the geneticist shows the effects of migrations and the mongrel nature of humanity in this fascinating study
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas review – if abortion were outlawed in the US …
Unforgettable characters drive this electrifying vision of a dystopian US, inspired by Margaret Atwood
Yes to Europe! by Robert Saunders review – the 1975 referendum, when the remainers won
A myth-demolishing study of the vote in which Tony Benn voted to leave and the Tory tabloids hailed a result ‘more unanimous than any decision in peacetime history’
The Making of the Wind in the Willows review – Toad, Ratty and a manifesto for gay living
Peter Hunt’s elegant account of the genesis of Kenneth Grahame’s classic only hints at the revelations the author has discussed in promotional interviews