The Artist by Lucy Steeds review – dextrous portrait of female fulfilment
A young woman with creative ambitions is obliged to care for her uncle, a famous painter, in an accomplished debut set in 1920s Provence
Oromay by Baalu Girma review – long-overdue translation of a modern classic
First published in Amharic in 1983, this shocking story about the military junta that governed Ethiopia in the 70s and 80s was banned and led to the author’s disappearance
In brief: Slow Train Coming; How to Sleep at Night; A Sign of Her Own – review
Behind the scenes on Dylan musical Girl from the North Country; a sharp tale of political and family strife; and a fine novel about sensory deprivation
Caryl Phillips: ‘It was Britain that made me a writer’
The New York-based Kittitian-British author on why he set his new novel in the immigrant community of 1960s Notting Hill, the pitfalls of celebrity, and how he never misses a Leeds United match
‘I knew I was overexercising and not eating enough’: novelist Emma Healey on the dark side of self-control
Her bestselling debut Elizabeth Is Missing was inspired by her grandmother’s dementia. Now the novelist has drawn from her own experiences for a thriller about the power dynamic between personal trainer and client
Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou review – supernatural satire
Funny, spooky and surreal, this shapeshifting novel from the Francophone author explores Congolese politics
Shankari Chandran, Robert Dessaix, Diana Reid and others: Australian books to look forward to in 2025
From enthralling debuts to playful premises and national reckonings, here is a whirlwind tour of what’s to come
The Memory Palace by Nate DiMeo audiobook review – bite-size historical wonders
Author and narrator Nate DiMeo zooms in on stories of mishap, invention and adventure in these pithy yet profound historical lessons
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Havoc by Christopher Bollen; Strange Pictures by Uketsu; Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor; Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse; The Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar
Hisham Matar: ‘I learned English by listening to Jane Austen audiobooks’
The British-Libyan author on Hemingway’s craft, finding comfort in Joseph Conrad, and spending six months drowning in Austen
Good Girl by Aria Aber review – coming of age in Berlin
This powerful debut plunges the reader into a raging battle between a young Afghan woman’s cultural identity and desire for freedom
Quarterlife by Devika Rege review – an ambitious debut of the new India
This acutely portrayed reckoning with contemporary Indian sociopolitics traces the faultlines of caste, class and religion
Confessions by Catherine Airey review – family secrets unearthed
This episodic, multi-layered debut crosses decades and continents to shine a light on the universality and uniqueness of women’s experience
Noreen Riols obituary
Trainer for the Special Operations Executive who acted as a ‘honey trap’ and later wrote novels based on her wartime experiences
Colin Barrett’s Wild Houses among winners of Nero book awards
The booker longlisted title takes the debut fiction prize while Adam S Leslie, Sophie Elmhirst and Liz Hyder win fiction, nonfiction and children’s categories