In brief: B: A Year in Plagues and Pencils; The Gardener; A Curious Boy – reviews
Lockdown drawings from Edward Carey, a new novel of growth and green fingers from Salley Vickers, and a naturalist’s memoir from Richard Fortey
The Selfless Act of Breathing by JJ Bola review – a traveller misses connection
The poet’s lyrical second novel charts the odyssey of a disillusioned teacher who flees London for the US
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles review – a love letter to the American road trip
This sweeping book is as much about the literary history of the road novel as it is about one engaging journey
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout review – Lucy Barton’s return brings intense pleasures
The Pulitzer prize-winner delves deeper into the rich cast of characters that have made her a bestseller
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson: ‘My book is me nudging forward from very real fears’
The American debut novelist on the lessons she learned from teaching art, her mixed feelings about Virginia and her experience of white supremacists
A pioneering pilot, a vast wilderness, a drunken afternoon… Booker shortlisted authors reveal their inspirations
Patricia Lockwood, Anuk Arudpragasam, Richard Powers and more on how they made the 2021 shortlist
Children’s books roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Schnauzers in trousers, a Diwali sparkler and Lenny Henry’s kids’ fiction debut, plus the best new YA
Curtis Sittenfeld: ‘Sweet Valley High is not respected – but I found the books riveting’
The American Wife author on The Snowman, Saturday Night Live and her lifelong love of Alice Munro
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan – between happiness and ruin
In this tender novel by the renowned short-story writer, a father confronts the truth of one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries
Love and Virtue by Diana Reid review – sex, shame and the social minefields of campus life
Reid’s debut is a multilayered page-turner on power, unrequited love and campus rape culture, wrapped in a coming-of-age narrative
Dark Neighbourhood by Vanessa Onwuemezi review – wildly original
This debut collection of stories uses visceral language and a disruptive style to explore the challenges of knowing ourselves and others
Realists of a larger reality wanted: Ursula K Le Guin prize for fiction to launch in 2022
Award aims to honour imaginative fiction that champions ‘hope and freedom, alternatives to conflict and a holistic view of humanity’s place in the natural world’
Claire Keegan: ‘I think something needs to be as long as it needs to be’
The acclaimed Irish writer on writing short works, the Magdalene Laundries and her new hobby, horse training
Top 10 true crime novels
Adding an intense layer of meaning to well-known facts, authors including Truman Capote, Kate Summerscale and Gordon Burn raise this genre far above its grubby reputation
Reprieve by James Han Mattson review – ‘horror shows who we are’
A murder in a grisly escape room is brilliantly described – but the violence of a bigoted society is where the true nightmares lurk