Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser review – anger, alarm and satirical glee
Two compelling first-person narratives take the reader from 80s Paris to a dystopian Melbourne in this funny, intelligent double novel
In brief: Five Tuesdays in Winter; The Treeline; Islands of Abandonment – review
A short story collection full of emotional epiphanies, an investigation into trees on the move, and an exploration of abandoned places
Phenotypes by Paulo Scott review – artfully plotted tale of race, privilege and guilt
An illuminating examination of racial classification in a skilfully constructed story of two brothers divided by the colour of their skin
Raven Leilani: ‘I was flying by the seat of my pants’
The author on late-night writing sessions, vulnerability, and rediscovering her love of painting during lockdown
2022 in books: highlights for the year ahead
New writing from Ali Smith, Marlon James, Elena Ferrante and Jarvis Cocker – a taste of good things to come
Wayward by Dana Spiotta review – midlife madness in a mad America
Perimenopausal and appalled by Trump, a suburban woman looks for answers to her country’s crazy collapse
A Time Outside This Time by Amitava Kumar review – #fakenews onslaught
An erudite attempt to skewer our media overload amid the sound and fury of the Trump years – but character and heart are missing
After a year of sloth, I’ve rediscovered the joy of immersing myself in a book
It took my six-year-olds to shame me out of my pandemic rut, says Guardian columnist Emma Brockes
Romantic fiction writers creating a more diverse happily ever after
How book-loving communities on social media are helping authors break barriers to become bestsellers
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara review – is this the land of the free?
The impressive follow-up to A Little Life explores liberty and entropy across three time periods, from an alternative 19th-century New York to a totalitarian future
Harrow by Joy Williams review – the apocalypse reimagined by Dalí and Kafka
A group of elderly revolutionaries plot against the destruction of Earth in Williams’s surreal and intense first novel in 20 years
Fiction to look out for in 2022
With a host of phenomenal debuts on the way, plus some dazzling new work from the likes of Douglas Stuart and Hanya Yanagihara, 2022 is positively groaning with great novels
Bambi: cute, lovable, vulnerable … or a dark parable of antisemitic terror?
A new translation of Felix Salten’s 1923 novel reasserts its original message that warns of Jewish persecution
‘I was lost in a world of crystal skulls’: readers on the books they got for Christmas
Our readers pick the gift books that changed their lives, from Roald Dahl box sets to tales of Sydney street gangs
Joan Didion obituary
Detached observer of American society and political life through her collections of journalism, novels and screenwriting