A Rising of the Lights by Steve Toltz review – a darkly funny take on the male loneliness epidemic

A miserable misogynist is on a quest for redemption in Toltz’s fourth novel, which fizzes with dynamic prose but struggles to engender empathy for its protagonist

Hey, Good Morning, How Are You? by Martina Hefter review – a hit in Germany that falls flat in English

The premise of this novel about a ballet dancer who baits love scammers into conversation is great – but the story feels overwritten and underfelt

Devotions by Lucy Caldwell review – short stories that are frightening, passionate and comforting too

The Northern Irish writer explores music and family, memory and duty in this stunning collection of sharply observed tales

Having Spent Life Seeking by Kae Tempest review – painfully earnest tale of trauma and transition

An ex-offender searches for meaning and beauty in the second novel from the spoken-word performer

This Dark Night by Deborah Lutz review – Emily Brontë’s world

Tactile details and a no-nonsense approach make this biography a refreshing change from more lurid fare

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout review – readers will delight in these new characters

The Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton author branches out with the tale of a Massachusetts teacher haunted by trauma

‘It’s still a no-go area’: German author Matthias Jügler on the trauma surrounding the GDR’s ‘stolen children’

The reaction among officials in Germany to his bestselling novel has been hostile. As Mayfly Season is published in the UK, its author explains why

Newly released letters reveal JD Salinger’s wariness over ‘second-rate reviewers’

Exclusive: Author asked to remove reference to his ‘Jewish-Irishness’ from book jacket of The Catcher in the Rye

The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke review – a compelling debut of mental meltdown

A young woman’s dissociation from reality and her road to recovery are vividly rendered in this striking novel

David Malouf will always be one of the world’s great writers. I will always be grateful to him

Malouf’s astounding talent was to remain lucid and attentive in his language, while imbuing his worlds with a sensuality that was subtle but deeply felt

Mantle by Romy Ash review – an exquisitely wild and exhilarating vision of the near future

Thirteen years after her celebrated debut, the author returns with a bizarre, evocative work that merges science and the surreal

Double Indemnity review – leaden drama turns crime classic into a very cold case

James M Cain’s hard-bitten novella gained bleak power on screen but this version, giving Mischa Barton her UK stage debut, loses its flinty edge

David Malouf, Australian author of Remembering Babylon and Ransom, dies aged 92

Acclaimed Brisbane-born writer was known for his work exploring his own childhood, great myths and colonial Australia

Susan Choi and Lily King shortlisted for Women’s prize for fiction

The US writers join four debut authors in demonstrating ‘the complexity and beauty of the female experience’, said chair of judges Julia Gillard

The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis review – one of the boldest writers at work in English today

This fable-like novella about technologies of illusion and a life-changing friendship in Mexico City is enchanting