Parallel Lines by Edward St Aubyn review – troubled minds and family mysteries
The Patrick Melrose author brings his trademark dark wit and flinty compassion to this wide-ranging sequel
Notes to John by Joan Didion review – an invasion of privacy
There’s a crude fascination in seeing the contents of a literary celebrity’s therapy sessions, but no one comes out of it well
Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane review – streams of consciousness
An impassioned plea to save our rivers combines poetry and adventure
Sister Europe by Nell Zink review – all the ideas Trump deems most dangerous
This comedy of manners set among Berlin’s cultural elite is a prescient interrogation of language, identity and power
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
A gosling grows up; a campaign to save trees; the impact of partition; thorny dilemmas; wearing a hijab in Essex and more
Bad Friend by Tiffany Watt Smith review – refreshingly frank portraits of female friendship
A social and personal history that refuses to gloss over the rage, envy and hurt that form part of every close bond
The Great Gatsby: A New Musical review – what a swell party this ain’t
F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic jazz age novel ought to be a perfect basis for a musical, but no amount of Charlestons from a fine cast can put the fizz into this
The Sun Was Electric Light by Rachel Morton review – a clever novel about searching for belonging
A woman who feels disconnected from her life in New York moves to Guatemala to chase a distant memory of happiness in this languid and profound debut
All Fours by Miranda July audiobook review – the frank, sexy novel everyone’s been talking about
The author’s hypnotic reading evokes the desires and existential crisis of a 45-year-old woman on a wild road trip
Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp review – wild, absurd and wickedly funny
This outrageous skewering of the modern dating landscape confronts toxic masculinity and the contradictions of female desire
Men of a Certain Age by Kate Mossman review – close encounters with charismatic male rockers
A journalist’s bracingly honest account of interviews with musicians from Brian May to Shaun Ryder
Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt review – an exquisite tale of first love
The poet’s debut novel is a transcendent portrait of gay desire that pays homage to the English literary tradition
Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman review – why you should quit your job to make the world a better place
A bracingly hopeful call for high-flyers to ditch corporate drudgery in favour of something far more ambitious
Luminous by Silvia Park review – a major new voice in SF
From humans with robotic body parts to robots with human emotions, a vibrant debut set in a unified Korea examines what it means to be a person
Enough Is Enuf by Gabe Henry review – the battle to reform English spelling
Philadelphia’s Speling Reform Asoshiashun wasn’t the only group to demand a simpler way of putting things in print