"With exceptional care, with a loving shrewdness that’s a little Hogarthian, Spufford catches the voices and hopes of five not-dead working-class south Londoners..."

"grotesque, extremely funny, weirdly touching and acute about families..."

"For once, this is a domestic thriller not rooted in envy of someone else’s seemingly perfect life. Naughty, but nice...."

"VC Andrews for Generation Z...."

"Light the blue touch paper and retire to a comfortable chair...."

"His description of the cauldron of Stalingrad, and of the Shakespearean vengeance Nehmann takes there, are well worth relishing..."

" Harper’s writing is as unobtrusively effective as ever..."

"Asylum Road shows Sudjic confidently expanding the reach of her fiction, with an unerring instinct for asking timely questions...."

" an ambitious epic telling the story of a fictional German city ..."

"Despite – or because of – its gappiness, there’s sadness in this simple tale..."

"Mosse shows a deft command of character and narrative..."

"Already a hit in the US, this hard-hitting novel reveals a hidden side of South Asia..."

"This is an elevated example of the “millennial novel”, swerving cliche..."

"Maine reworks the conventions of historical romance in a narrative that regularly undercuts expectations of what is to come...."

"Death in Her Hands, like all Moshfegh’s novels, is a mystery, as well as a portrait of a broken mind...."

"An Edinburgh tenement is the setting for these dark and fantastically funny tales..."

"Though far from flawless, this keening lament of an adventure is compelling..."

"a fine achievement..."

"a Booker winner’s walk on the surreal side..."

"This definitive collection of Hazzard’s short stories is a welcome reminder of her remarkable talent...."

"The Black Death seems an improbable subject for a comic novel, but Wilson takes up the challenge, and the result is fiercely funny. ..."

"an intriguing debut novel..."

"Herron is an excellent writer ..."

"It’s a thoughtful, slow-motion novel..."

"this page-turning thriller marks her as a writer to watch..."

"His tale is extraordinary, and Frances Quinn has used it well in this fascinating debut...."

"(a) welcome, accessible disassembly of the internet..."

"This engaging novel evokes the radical politics of the anti-psychiatry movement..."

"it is at least a tale told with some brio..."

"hits you right in the feels..."

"Pantomime misanthropy is tempered with bursts of sweetness in the secondhand bookseller’s latest dispatches from Wigtown..."

"plenty to applaud but easy to get lost..."

"This scientific analysis of humour says it may have evolved to boost sex appeal..."

"The juggle is familiar, but the take is fresh. ..."

"this celebration of amateur dramatics shows we've always been a theatre-loving country..."

"Jilly always makes the reader see through her eyes..."

"(a) fascinating portrait of a comedy genius..."

"Bloom’s memoir is somewhat hit-and-miss despite entertaining moments...."

"Hornby has built a career on capturing emotional nuance..."

" this charming, warm-hearted book proves just what an intelligent, quick-witted woman Claudia is..."

"The line between obsession and addiction is as thin as rolling paper. ..."

"Beautifully observed and full of swipes at the inhabitant of the White House, it is hugely entertaining...."

"essential reading for fans of the Big Yin..."

"Human-sized bunnies roam Britain in a dystopian satire on middle-class complacency..."

"a biography that manages to be both plodding and salacious at the same time...."

"Jackley is a contradictory figure... This splendid book – less true crime than biography – does full justice to his complexity..."

"a heartwarming collection in which older-and-wiser poet and child converge – in sun and shade...."

"(a) powerful, unflinching account of her war-torn childhood... part hymn to nature, part Troubles memoir..."

" a personal and professional account of a life spent working in forensic anthropolog..."

"(A) bracing, mountain-fresh repositioning of the country star’s story..."

"Having and Being Had dwells on Biss’s unease about her participation in a system whose values she does not embrace, even as she savours its rewards..."

"Erpenbeck’s writing is at its best precisely when she is able to provide us with this structure. ..."

"a captivating triumph..."

"A new biography suggests Joe Biden has picked a VP who will not shrink from tackling the toxic legacy of Trump..."

"At once gritty and escapist, it offers timely lessons not just in perseverance, but in nurturing optimism..."

"An experimental biography tries to domesticate the great novelist, who was scarcely able to tie his own shoelaces without disaster..."

"He is the missing link between Pam Ayres and the Sex Pistols, between Baudelaire and the Beano...."

"a paean to making friendships across boundaries, to being kind even when the cost is nearly unbearable..."

"Despite biographical gaps, the intellectual seriousness and extraordinary resilience of the 18th-century philosopher shines through..."

"In an eye-popping memoir, the singer describes going to bed with Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Roman Polanski, Michael Caine and Sean Connery while still in her teens..."

"An indelible portrait of the CIA’s institutional derangement..."

"an invaluably original view of one man in his garden..."

"short but inspiring..."

"A writer with a stutter offers a thought-provoking defence of disfluency and takes a sideswipe at Freud..."

"seeks to tap into the creative inner life of the country, weaving a rich pattern of stories and poems through the chapters..."

"a delightful sporting memoir..."

"a fascinating sort-of seminar, but not without its drawbacks..."

"A rebellious woman’s memoir about her life under the Taliban is moving and gripping..."

"The great writer’s passion and resilience resonate anew in Eddie S Glaude Jr’s timely, powerful study..."

"The Norwegian literary superstar takes pot shots at his critics and cancel culture, and doesn’t care who he offends..."

"Thomas Otte asks whether our then-Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, was culpable for failing to avert war..."

"offers up some memorable insights but it is mostly a reliable and business-like account of a life in sport..."