Trespasses by Louise Kennedy review – love amid the Troubles
An affair between a young Catholic woman and a married Protestant barrister drives this brilliant debut set in 1975 Belfast
Violets by Kyung-sook Shin review – a lonely Seoul
In this atmospheric and gripping fable set in 70s Korea, a fragile young florist dedicates herself to flowers
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes review – the problem with ambiguity
This story about an inspirational teacher and the arc of history fatally undermines itself
Bolla by Pajtim Statovci review – illicit love in the shadow of war
A man flees the Kosovan war in this perceptive study of passion and terror
Top 10 novels about postwar Germany
Writers from John le Carré to Heinrich Böll and Bernard Schlink explore how the guilt and traumas of war are passed down to succeeding generations
Hourglass by Keiran Goddard review – a universal love story
The poet’s fiction debut vividly explores heartbreak, paranoia and the difficult work of being human
Reverse Engineering edited by Tom Conaghan review – the power of brevity
Interviews with authors bolster their short stories in this impressive collection from a new publisher
In brief: Homelands; At Certain Points We Touch; The Hidden Horticulturalists – reviews
A moving account of an unlikely friendship; a flawed yet thrilling tale of a febrile romance; and a long-overdue celebration of landscaping’s forgotten heroes
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes review – a roman à clef with a key that’s hard to find
Barnes experiments with narrative – and the reader’s patience – in this literary, in-joke-filled story of a man obsessed with a female lecturer on culture
Sweet Darusya: A Tale of Two Villages by Maria Matios – a strange, bewitching Ukrainian saga
This acclaimed 2003 novel, recently translated into English for the first time, illuminates the country’s history with a tale bordering on magical realism
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy review – love among the Troubles
In her first novel, the acclaimed short-story writer draws on the Northern Ireland of her childhood, merging unspeakable times with tough humour and romance
Emily St John Mandel: ‘Readers have tattoos from Station Eleven. It blows my mind’
The Canadian author on how her pandemic novel became a lockdown phenomenon and inspired a hit TV series
David McKee obituary
Creator of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and Mr Benn, who wrote and illustrated children’s classics
‘A completely different language’: how Ukrainian writers and artists are responding to the war
Across the arts, creators are producing poignant, direct work at speed at the front line of Russia’s war of aggression
The best recent science fiction and fantasy – reviews roundup
Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James; Braking Day by Adam Oyebanji; Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch; Stringers by Chris Panatier; The Cuckoo Cage edited by Ra Page