Agrippa by Robert Harris review – persuasive portrait of rivalry in ancient Rome

This fictional memoir by Octavius’s right-hand man shows us bloodshed, betrayal and hectic jockeying for power

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian; Claws Out! by Bella Mackie; Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang; Children of Wolves by Lawrence Osborne; Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Mine by Adam Ouston review – novel told in a single sentence is a hallucinatory reading experience

Ouston’s second novel follows a poet who is trapped in an abandoned mine in Tasmania while searching for inspiration for his ‘last great work’

Universality by Natasha Brown audiobook review – a sparkling multi-voiced satire

A magazine article about stolen gold sparks a culture war between a cast of politically polarised characters

Can Nothing Save Us? by Irvine Welsh review – US family saga is a late-career triumph

The Scottish author focuses on gun culture and generational conflict in this darkly satirical tale about a great power in decline

EJ Swift wins the 2026 Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction

The writer – who was also shortlisted in 2023 – has won the prize for her book When There Are Wolves Again, a speculative work of eco-fiction set in near-future Britain

Something Like Happiness by Tom Newlands review – a tender take on hard times, anger and autism

A twentysomething Scottish couple care for their autistic son in the bleak follow-up to Only Here, Only Now

A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher review – a masterpiece of criticism

This joyous book takes readers on a literary adventure across 300 years of fiction, from Defoe to Zadie Smith

Feel the burn: why holidays from hell make for blistering fiction

Family fallouts, failing marriages, sunburn, food poisoning ... from Deborah Levy’s hypnotic and disturbing Hot Milk to All In, Claire Powell’s all-inclusive nightmare, Leon Craig looks at the best novels about vile vacations

I Give You My Silence by Mario Vargas Llosa review – Nobel laureate’s final novel is a love letter to Peru

This fascinating, eccentric book becomes a quirky primer on Peruvian music and culture

Sinking ships, dark humour and really good bad guys: Beryl Bainbridge – ranked!

From the last days of the Titanic to desperate romantics, we rate the work of a British master of black comedy

Is Beauty Good by Rosalind Belben review – the literary equivalent of free jazz

Combining hilarious detail with harsh observation, this rediscovered novel takes the reader on an exhilaratingly strange journey

‘Grief became my brand’: Freya Bromley on writing about personal tragedy

Touring her memoir and talking to others helped the author come to terms with her brother’s death, but the book’s success left her feeling guilty. Had she commodified her family’s pain?

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

The Salt Kingby Natasha Pulley; A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett; Netherwood by Jake Arnott; Fawn by CN Vair

Now, Autonomy by Max Easton review – a sardonic yet compassionate take on millennial apathy

The author’s third novel to chronicle life in Sydney’s west follows a group of flawed friends trying to sustain meaning amid an ‘erosion in the world’