‘I feel like when I’m 50 people will take me seriously’: novelists Eliza Clark and Julia Armfield in conversation

The two authors, who became friends during lockdown, discuss their experiences in the UK publishing industry, the day job, and books they love

The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer review – a not so smashing follow-up

The comedian’s flights of fancy are again to the fore in this sequel to his award-winning crime caper, but sadly, momentum and intrigue are a little lacking

The best new novels for autumn 2024, from Sally Rooney to Jonathan Coe and Haruki Murakami

The biggest names are back in a stellar season for fiction, with rip-roaring feminist horror, revenge tales, family sagas, spy romps and more. Here’s our essential guide

In brief: Peggy: A Novel; Oaklore: Adventures in a World of Extraordinary Trees; My Men – reviews

Rebecca Godfrey’s fictionalised biography of Peggy Guggenheim is full of adventure; Jules Acton’s woodland wisdom is infectious; and Victoria Kielland’s novel gets into the mind of the first female US serial killer

Roddy Doyle: ‘People used to say I was undermining family life … ludicrous stuff’

The Dublin author once caused outrage for writing about domestic abuse. As he publishes his third Paula Spencer novel, he talks about optimism, new Irish fiction – and the genius of Roy Keane

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner review – double dealing in deepest France

Longlisted for this year’s Booker prize, Kushner’s cleverly paced tale of espionage, narrated by a ‘wild and boastful’ agent provocateur, juggles a killer plot with anarchy, agriculture and prehistory, making for her most entertaining novel yet

Beyond Bilbo: JRR Tolkien’s long-lost poetry to be published

Long-lost verse from the Lord of the Rings author will reach bookshops 50 years after his death

Novelist Sarah Moss: ‘Hunger numbed my shame and humiliation’

As a bullied schoolgirl, the writer starved herself while greedily consuming classic novels. Looking back, she asks if their fragile heroines played a part in her increasingly dangerous attempts to lose weight

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers review – trauma unearthed

The follow-up to Small Pleasures is set in a mid-century psychiatric hospital, as an art therapist delves into a patient’s past

Atonement by Ian McEwan audiobook review – secrets and lies

Succession actor Harriet Walter narrates this unsettling portrait of class, memory and the nature of fiction

The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer review – more affable nonsense

Is the follow-up to The Satsuma Complex a celebrity cash-grab, or a sweet, silly meta-commentary on thrillers?

Novelist Francesca Segal: ‘Wuthering Heights did peculiar things to my romantic expectations’

The author on reading Emily Brontë as a teenager, becoming consumed by the Patrick Melrose novels, and the magic of listening to the Midnight’s Children audiobook in Manhattan

Five of the best books about yearning

These exceptional tales explore the sweet, infuriating agony of being overwhelmed by passion and desire

Munichs by David Peace review – bravura portrait of a football tragedy

An electrifying retelling of how the Munich air disaster changed football and Britain for ever

Liars by Sarah Manguso review – searing tale of a toxic marriage

This compulsive, claustrophobic account of a bad relationship becomes starved of oxygen in the same way the narrator is