Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted by Ben Okri review – a slender fable
The magical healing power of a masked costume ball hangs in the balance in this whimsical tale of transformation
Universality by Natasha Brown review – clever satire of identity politics
Slyly investigating language and bias in media culture, this follow-up to Assembly confirms Brown as one of the most intelligent voices writing today
Torrey Peters on life after a hit novel: ‘It had a very chilling effect on my writing’
Author of Detransition, Baby found success and pushback she never anticipated and now returns with a provocative collection of stories
Once the Deed Is Done by Rachel Seiffert review – mystery in the aftermath of the Third Reich
This fine novel investigates the fate of displaced people in the hazardous, dirty backwash of the second world war
The trauma plot: how did culture get addicted to tragic backstories?
Again and again, audiences have been spoon-fed the same story: a character can only be explained by a past trauma, tantalisingly revealed in the last episode. Has the trope reached a tipping point?
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits review – a triumphant twist on the great American road novel
Fleeing a failing marriage and culture war battles, a man drives away from the wreckage of his past
Carrion Crow by Heather Parry review – a stomach-clenching contender for awards
A woman is confined to the attic by her mother in a thrillingly told novel that revels in squalor
Long live Joyce Carol Oates’ Twitter account: the only pure space left on this hell site
The 86-year-old author’s social feed might be her greatest contribution to literature – with philosophical musings on everything from US politics to an infected foot
The Mouthless Dead by Anthony Quinn review – murder most unsolvable
The author’s haunting and highly readable fictionalisation of a high-profile killing in prewar Liverpool is rich in legal and procedural detail
A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland review – a striking story of concealed love
This unforgettable tale of two men in late-80s Wales deals with the emotions and repercussions of their intimacy – and is one of the best debut novels in years
The Grapevine by Kate Kemp review – slaughter in surburbia
In a quiet Australian backwater an unravelling cast of women make claustrophobic crime fiction out of a close-knit community
In brief: Take Care; Tilt; Lightborne – review
A rousing memoir by the wife and carer of rugby player Rob Burrow; a tender earthquake survival tale; and a queer fictionalisation of Christopher Marlowe’s remarkable life
Xiaolu Guo: ‘Write less, in order to write stronger’
The author and film-maker on why she was inspired to reimagine Moby-Dick in her new novel, her love of Coleridge and returning to the ‘addictive power of fiction’
‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth
On the 20th anniversary of Never Let Me Go, the Nobel prize-winning novelist talks about the role of the author in a post-truth world – and why he’s ‘not a great writer of prose’
‘The definition of a classic’: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go at 20
A Booker-winning author, a Nobel prize-winning scientist and the directors of the film and stage adaptations on why Ishiguro’s dystopian tale still speaks to us today