Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout review – when Olive Kitteridge met Lucy Barton

The worlds of Strout’s previous books converge in this quietly stunning novel of interlocking stories

Playground by Richard Powers review – the wonder of the oceans

This ambitious, rapturous Booker-longlisted epic explores life underwater, generative AI, climate crisis and the power of play

Elaine by Will Self review – an intense reimagining of the author’s mother’s life

Elaine is a thwarted writer in 1950s upstate New York, on the brink of affairs and murdering her own child, in a claustrophobic novel full of Self’s stylistic mannerisms

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman review – his new crime-fighting team is another winner

A private security officer and the famous novelist in her charge are pursued around the world by a killer in the delightful first book in Osman’s new series

TikTok meets Tolkien: how the Folio Society attracted gen Z readers

The publishing house is booming thanks to sci-fi and fantasy novels – and a love of artisanal editions

In brief: Odyssey; Good Nature; Listen for the Lie – review

Stephen Fry is at his best in the last of his quartet of Greek myths; new insights into how the natural world boosts our health; and a suspected killer is the subject of small-town gossip

Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – deepfakes, sex acts and cyber-attacks

In his sometimes enjoyable longest novel yet, the author’s obsession with sex and desire competes for attention with his usual grandstanding and an intricate, Dan Brown-like pulp mystery

Elizabeth Strout: ‘All ordinary people are extraordinary’

The Pulitzer prize winner on uniting Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton in her new novel, her unfathomable dreams, and how she went from ‘blabbermouth’ to writer

Novelist Rumaan Alam: ‘A lot of people have secret money – it can make you crazy with envy’

His pandemic bestseller Leave the World Behind was made into a starry Netflix movie. Now the author is turning the spotlight on wealth. He talks about success, parenthood – and the mania of trying to make it in New York

Pedro Almodóvar: ‘Life needs fiction to make it bearable’

The Spanish film-maker on the raw, real life experiences behind his first collection of short stories – and why his mother is his inspiration

Send us your questions for Jilly Cooper

Got something you’d love to ask the Riders author about her five decades writing steamy romances? Now is your chance

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd review – hugely enjoyable cold war espionage

This cinematic tale of globe-trotting adventure marks the beginning of a new series

The First Friend review – one of history’s greatest monsters reimagined in jet-black satire

A toxic friendship between a Soviet despot and his chauffeur is the basis for a novel that channels Armando Iannucci with a laconically Australian twist

The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle review – hilarity and hard times

In the third Paula Spencer novel, set during lockdown, mother and daughter are haunted by a history of violence, but revel in some late-life freedom

Medusa of the Roses by Navid Sinaki review – noir debut of forbidden love

The fantasies of myth are a channel to explore queer life in modern-day Iran