Great Eastern Hotel by Ruchir Joshi review – a panoramic view of India in flux
The political and emotional journey of a young communist revolutionary is brought sensuously to life, in a magnificent epic that took 25 years to write
Vulture by Phoebe Greenwood review – a caustic satire on war reporting in the Middle East
A journalist pursues headline-making scoops whatever the cost to those in the conflict zone in this astute and darkly humorous debut novel by a former foreign correspondent
Bryce Courtenay, conspiracies and campfire cooking: the best Australian books out in August
Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on
TonyInterruptor by Nicola Barker review – satire that sees right through you
This brilliantly over-the-top comedy about an unworldly heckler explores art and authenticity – being tripped up by it is part of the fun
Dame Stella Rimington obituary
First female head of MI5 seen as a Whitehall street fighter whose most controversial role was countering ‘subversion’
‘I’ve seen tough, rugby-playing men cowering’: how we made theatre horror The Woman in Black
‘It’s rare to really frighten a theatre audience. So it surprised us when people said, “I didn’t sleep for three nights after seeing your show”’
Bloody Awful in Different Ways by Andrev Walden review – darkly funny Swedish autofiction
In this bleak, bestselling coming-of-age debut, the author evokes life with the seven dads he had in seven years
Lucy Foley: ‘Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging didn’t talk down to teenage girls’
The crime author on rediscovering Edith Wharton, and the brilliantly twisted author who changed her ideas about writing
Martin Cruz Smith obituary
Novelist best known for Gorky Park and the series of thrillers that followed featuring the Soviet detective Arkady Renko
The Immigrants by Moreno Giovannoni review – family history fuels a novel of understated beauty
Blending fiction and family memoir, the author’s second novel pays tribute to the lives and labour of his parents and their community of postwar Italian immigrants in Australia
What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in July
Writers and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments
Dreaming of Dead People by Rosalind Belben review – rivals anything by Virginia Woolf
More than 40 years on from its first publication, this exploration of one woman’s thoughts and fantasies is a gem worthy of rediscovery
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén review – a novel anyone will take to heart
A huge hit in Sweden, this portrait of one man and his dog as the end approaches is a simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care
This year’s Booker prize longlist looks in new directions
Former winner Kiran Desai leads a varied field, while Alan Hollinghurst misses out
The Fathers by John Niven review – class satire with grit
Two fortysomething Glaswegians from either side of the tracks form an unlikely friendship in this comic melodrama