Hailstones Fell without Rain by Natalia Figueroa Barroso review – a funny and tender debut

This exuberant novel, set in western Sydney and Uruguay, celebrates matrilineal connection over three generations of one family

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood review – a story that sings on the page

A young shrimp fisher’s horizons are broadened by the arrival of a stranger in this atmospheric Booker-listed tale

Ruth by Kate Riley review – a very different kind of candour

This unusual debut explores the inner life of a woman in an insular American religious community

False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez review – a new vision of migration

A novel of interlocking stories captures the ordinary lives and interior worlds of Cuban exiles seeking sanctuary in Miami

Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin review – grasping the essence of horror

The Argentinian writer maps a journey through fear, healing and the terrifying permeability of our boundaries

The best recent translated fiction – review roundup

Discontent by Beatriz Serrano; Hunter by Shuang Xuetao; Blurred by Iris Wolff; Cooking in the Wrong Century by Teresa Präauer

Kataraina by Becky Manawatu review – thrilling follow-up to a hit Māori novel

The sequel to the award-winning Auē explores themes of resistance, trauma and long-buried secrets

Banned! The 20 books they didn’t want you to read

From Instagram poetry to Greek classics, the works of fiction that have caused uproar through history – and into the present

Arborescence by Rhett Davis review – strange and beguiling novel considers what it means to be human

People transform into trees in this meditation on despair and hope in a time of human-induced climate change

Watching Over Her by Jean-Baptiste Andrea review – a love song to Italy

A sculptor and his unlikely soulmate navigate the political turmoil of the 20th century in a prize-winning blockbuster

Chimamanda has returned to fiction after 12 years. But is the author stuck in the 2010s?

As a talent, the Dream Count writer remains confident and commanding – but as a social commentator, Adichie seems stranded

Circular Motion by Alex Foster review – what if the world spun faster and faster?

This impressive debut, in which super-quick pod travel causes the Earth’s rotation to accelerate, satirises climate change denial

Helm by Sarah Hall review – a mighty epic of climate change in slow motion

A Cumbrian wind is the central character in this hugely ambitious, millennia-spanning novel, which was 20 years in the making

From V to Vineland and Inherent Vice: Thomas Pynchon’s books – ranked!

With fans eagerly awaiting the reclusive author’s first book in more than a decade, the noir caper Shadow Ticket, we assess his best fiction of the past 60 years

The Expansion Project by Ben Pester review – surreal workplace satire

A father searches for his missing daughter at a business park, only to become a living ghost in a corporate nightmare