‘I no longer have to save the world’: Novelist Richard Powers on fiction and the climate crisis

The Pulitzer-winning author of The Overstory on how ocean life inspired his latest novel – and why we need to rewrite our relationship with nature

The Guardian view on the Booker prize shortlist: a cause for celebration

Editorial: The most female finalists in the award’s history. What took it so long?

Five of the best books shaped by lists

From the poptastic Top 10s of High Fidelity to the life-saving work of Oskar Schindler, here are some of the best tabulations in literature

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman; Guide Me Home by Attica Locke; Five By Five by Claire Wilson; The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani; I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel

Pat Barker: ‘When I first read Pride and Prejudice, I hated it’

The author on reimagining Homer, the sexiness of John Donne’s sonnets, and what she’s learned from Margaret Atwood

Diving, Falling by Kylie Mirmohamadi review – death of the artist, husband, monster

This charming debut follows a middle-aged woman who is liberated after her famous husband dies, in a crowded field of new books unpicking heterosexual marriage

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney review – surprise moves in love, loss and chess

The Irish author explores bereavement and age-gap relationships in a breathtakingly intimate tale of two brothers and the women they turn to

Precipice by Robert Harris review – the prime minister’s affair

Wartime PM Asquith shares love letters and state secrets with aristocrat Venetia Stanley in a juicy political drama drawn from history

The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao review – rebellion and romance in India

A dazzling debut weaves a love story around class and caste, at a time of revolutionary violence and change

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam review – the American dream gone wrong

A woman is beguiled by wealth while her billionaire employer aims to give his fortune away, in a propulsive exploration of money and race

Nadia Davids wins Caine short story prize for ‘triumph of language’ Bridling

The South African author’s work was described as ‘an impressive achievement’ by chair of judges Chika Unigwe

The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier review – time-skipping Venetian tour de force

A bead maker barely ages in 500 years in a subtle novel that wrestles with historic events while showing how much remains unchanged

Charlotte Wood on the Booker prize: ‘The global attention is like nothing I’ve seen’

The author is the first Australian to be shortlisted for the $98,000 prize since Richard Flanagan won in 2014

Intrigue, desire … and awful landlords: why queer authors are suddenly writing about houses

A settled domestic life can seem like a pipe dream for some LGBTQ+ writers, especially in the midst of a housing crisis. Yet novelists such as Booker nominated Yael van der Wouden are finding that inspiration begins at home

Each of the six Booker novels does something unique

As the Guardian’s fiction editor, I’ve been writing about the Booker prize for years. Now, as a judge, I’ve seen behind the curtain