The Sentence by Louise Erdrich review – saved by books
A Native American rebuilds her life after a prison sentence in this powerfully topical novel from the Pulitzer winner
Rare photo of Charles Dickens sporting ‘glorious’ moustache goes on show
Daguerreotype profile shows an unfamiliar face to modern readers but delighted the author, who found the whiskers ‘charming, charming’
The best recent translated fiction – review roundup
The Holocaust and history; a young gay man in South Korea; a wartime epic from Finland; plus two tales of love and abandonment
‘I yelled with joy’: how Caleb Azumah Nelson went from Apple store employee to Costa First Novel award winner
The London writer on the success of his first book, Open Water, the limitations of masculinity and why his writing shouldn’t be compared to Sally Rooney’s
The Last One by Fatima Daas review – a hypnotic debut
Exploring themes of religious faith and sexuality, the French-Algerian author’s interrogation of identities is a gorgeous and galvanising read
Story inspired by near miss with Fred West wins the Portico prize
Judges of the £10,000 northern writing award said Sally J Morgan’s novel ‘vividly evokes a time when women lived in mortal fear’
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu review – a new plague
This affecting debut stretching thousands of years into the future charts the effects of a global pandemic
Ian McEwan’s ‘most epic book to date’ to be published in September
The Booker prize-winning author’s new novel Lessons is ‘a powerful meditation on history and humanity told through the prism of one man’s lifetime’
The Love Songs of WEB Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers review – an exceptional debut
This account of an African American family’s journey across centuries, from slavery to present times, engages deeply with history
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett review – a mind-bending, heartwarming mystery
The author of bestseller The Appeal returns with a complex thriller that includes brilliant pastiches of Enid Blyton
The Love Songs of WEB Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers review – desires of the downtrodden
The poet’s debut novel effortlessly evokes the dilemmas of African Americans as they struggle for advancement
Why we’re falling in love with romance novels all over again
As book genres go it’s like a holiday romance with no strings attached – and it’s been hugely popular during the pandemic, says Guardian associate editor Claire Armitstead
In brief: The Memory Monster; The Lives of Literature; Delicacy – reviews
A provocative novel of Jewish remembrance, a bold work of criticism and a sweet-toothed memoir
Introducing our 10 best debut novelists of 2022
We talk to the authors of the most exciting first-time novels of the year, exploring everything from the English civil war to Instagram, TV chefs to knife crime
John Simpson: ‘Like most men, I’m amazingly good at forgiving myself’
The BBC stalwart on breaking down over the plight of an Afghan family, his new current affairs show – and failing to be enthused by Emily in Paris