Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review – is this the future for America?

Set a decade from now, this coming-of-age caper offers a child’s-eye view of family troubles in a ‘post-democracy’ USA

The stranger in a strange place is an enduring narrative in Australian fiction. But what if the crime scene is a whole continent?

In my new novel The Leap, there is no single mystery to solve, no killer to track down. Just deliberately forgotten truths about racism, massacres and hatred

More sex please, we’re bookish: the rise of the x-rated novel

From the Women’s prize to the bestseller lists, authors are pushing the boundaries of how explicit the novel can be – and readers can’t get enough

‘A novel to be swept away by’: Lucy Steeds wins Waterstones debut fiction prize for The Artist

Judges praised the novel, set in 1920s Provence, for its ‘atmospheric, sensory prose’ and described Steeds as ‘an exciting new voice’

What Kept You? by Raaza Jamshed review – an extraordinary debut full of ritual and poetry

A young woman grapples with the stories that shape her in this tightly crafted and complex portrayal of grief and growing up

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis audiobook review – a sharp comedy about Islamic State brides

Sarah Slimani’s droll delivery is the perfect fit for this hilarious Women’s prize-shortlisted debut, in which an academic embarks on a UN mission in Iraq

Siang Lu wins Miles Franklin award for Ghost Cities, ‘a genuine landmark in Australian literature’

Author, who takes home $60,000, says finding out he won Australia’s most esteemed literary prize left him ‘in such shock that I lost all feeling in my hands and legs’

Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt review – a warmly comic saga of male friendship

This tale of two entrepreneurs dips into the perspectives of real-life tech moguls, with thrilling results

Groundwater by Thomas McMullan review – a lesson in foreboding

A sense of menace hangs over a couple’s attempt to make a fresh start in lakeside seclusion, but the tensions too often sputter out

Father Figure by Emma Forrest review – a slippery tale of teenage obsession

Bristling with sexual, political and emotional angst, this finely tuned coming-of-age tale thrives on the grey areas of adolescence

‘Coupledom is very oppressing’: Swedish author Gun-Britt Sundström on the revival of her cult anti-marriage novel

As her million-selling 70s novel, Engagement, is translated into English for the first time, the Swedish author talks about life at 80, finding the ideal love, and why her generation were freer than today’s young people

A new Irish writer is getting rave reviews – but nobody knows who they are. That gives me hope

Pen names have a long history. Now Liadan Ní Chuinn is shunning publicity in an industry that demands ever more exposure, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

‘My parents got me out of Soviet Russia at the right time. Should my family now leave the US?’

When he left the Soviet Union for a new life in America, the novelist never imagined he would live under another authoritarian regime. Then Trump got back into power ... Is it time to move again?

The Guide #200: Get Out, Breaking Bad and the pop culture that defined the 21st century so far

In this week’s newsletter: To celebrate our 200th edition, we look back at the films, shows, albums and more that mattered most over the last 25 years

The best recent crime and thrillers – roundup

Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson; Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson; The Good Liar by Denise Mina; The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun; Gunner by Alan Parks