Stag Dance by Torrey Peters review – genre games and gender mischief
The follow-up to Detransition, Baby is a collection of short works ranging from dystopia to romance that delight in complicating identity politics
The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz by Anne Sebba review – playing for their lives
The remarkable story of conductor Alma Rosé and the musicians who survived the Holocaust by performing amid horrific conditions
The Clinking by Susie Greenhill review – a stunning, devastating debut
The Richell Prize-winner’s novel, set in a near-future lutruwita/Tasmania, asks what does it mean to have hope in the face of climate crisis?
Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes review – a manifesto for open-mindedness
The author’s suite of essays, originally conceived for broadcast, don’t always translate well for the page
I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There by Róisín Lanigan review – a housing crisis ghost story
London’s property market is the villain in this wry gothic novel for generation rent
Snow White review – Disney’s exhaustingly awful reboot axes the prince and makes the dwarves mo-cap
With tiresome pseudo-progressive additions that tie the whole thing in knots, this is a waste of estimable entertainers like Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah review – love and betrayal from the Nobel laureate
This is a powerful story of debt and obligation set against the tourism boom in post-colonial Tanzania
Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis review – what Doge is trying to destroy
The Moneyball author is joined by writers including Dave Eggers and Geraldine Brooks in a hymn of praise to the workers who keep America’s cogs turning
Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors review – batty antics with a Rocky Horror bloodsucker
As a gym-bunny vampire channelling Frank-N-Furter, James Daly leads a superb cast in a gender and genre-inverting romp that lacks bite
Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo review – masterpieces from a man with a heart as big as the Notre Dame
From hanged men and inky cephalopods to shadowy gothic castles, these cosmic, horror-tinged works let the Les Misérables writer and liberal political campaigner speak directly to us
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins review – second Hunger Games prequel is not for the faint-hearted
Moments of lyricism and literary flourishes help to leaven the grimness as the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy, eventual mentor to Katniss Everdeen, takes centre stage
Crime and thrillers of the month – review
A scientist’s chilling struggle for survival at the ends of the Earth, the search for a serial killer’s final victim, and murder on the mountains in DS Max Craigie’s latest case
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project review – electric film about radical thinker and poet
Featuring interviews and archive footage of the brilliant civil rights activist, the readings of her poems will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing up
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah review – a masterclass in quicksilver storytelling
The Nobel laureate’s wonderful new novel connects a trio of east African teens as they come of age, moving from small-scale dramas to wide-ranging social panoramas
How To End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner review – the greatest journals since Virginia Woolf’s
The Australian writer’s decision to publish her diaries in her own lifetime – subjecting herself to scorching observations on self-doubt and unravelling marriages – makes for a wonderfully rich and rewarding read