My Friends by Hisham Matar audiobook review – life in exile
Three Libyan friends navigate life in London, separated from their families, in a meditative book steeped in the author’s own experience
Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – the failure of politics
The chaos element of the populist right disrupts France’s weary liberal regime, in a novel of sadness and eerie serenity that marks a new direction
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty review – interesting premise, disappointing result
The Big Little Lies author imagines what would happen if a mysterious woman on a flight began predicting the deaths of her fellow passengers
‘These books captured our hearts’: Jacqueline Wilson’s Girls series is back – and millennials are rejoicing
The beloved children’s author reunites readers with Ellie, Magda and Nadine, now 40 and grappling with parenthood, sex and divorce
Prime Minister’s Literary awards 2024: Andre Dao wins $80,000 for debut novel Anam
Judges praise book as ‘profoundly relevant’, with Daniel Browning, Amy Crutchfield and Will Kostakis also winning in their categories
What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie review – Succession-style satire
A vile multimillionaire dies in mysterious circumstances in this entertaining follow-up to How to Kill Your Family
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