1+ day, 19+ hour ago  (309+ words) A mission to grow plants in the desert; a potato's adventures; a film-maker's dreams; wartime bravery; a feminist fantasy and more The Wonder by Tom Percival, Simon & Schuster, "12.99Daniel's wet grey day seems like it will never get better " until…...

1+ day, 21+ hour ago  (328+ words) Happy Mondays frontman says forthcoming book will include bullet-dodging scrapes in Jamaica and New York as well as "bust-ups and benders" with his bands Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman Shaun Ryder is publishing a new memoir and will personally…...

5+ day, 5+ hour ago  (1116+ words) Dark magic, fascism and romance in blitz-stricken London: this exuberant novel is a popcorny delightWhen I teach creative writing, I often find myself insisting upon the essential importance of fun: that while the process of writing can and should be…...

6+ day, 3+ hour ago  (1118+ words) Two uncannily similar men switch places in an existential farce that playfully explores the precarity of working lifeIn Isabel Waidner's previous novel, 2023's Corey Fah Does Social Mobility, a working-class writer wins a literary prize. As the trophy takes the…...

6+ day, 19+ hour ago  (998+ words) I have made the leap from literary fiction to fantasy " for those who think it's mere wish-fulfilment, here's why we need that thing with the dragonsFantasy doesn't need defending. It is one of the'great cultural forms at the moment, all-pervading,…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago  (462+ words) The Barbecue at No 9 by Jennie Godfrey; A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver; A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford; Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo; A Stranger in Corfu by Alex PrestonThe Barbecue at No 9 by…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago  (321+ words) The Bulgarian Booker winner on the letter he wrote to JD Salinger, the allure of Homer's Odyssey and the magic of Thomas MannMy earliest reading memory I was taught to read quite early, at five or six, probably so that…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago  (1013+ words) The dark past of a seemingly perfect couple is gradually revealed in this observant debut of obsession and controlGlimpse them chatting in a restaurant or posing on Instagram, and you might think they have it all. The pair live in…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago  (1065+ words) A charming child's-eye view of rural IrelandThere's a particular energy to novels written from the point of view of small children. Humour, of course, in the things the child misinterprets; pathos in the things they feel they must keep hidden;…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago  (390+ words) The Beloved author's refusal to conform made her a hero to many " and the only black female writer to have won a Nobel prize in literature As troublesome as difficulty may have been for her professionally, Morrison genuinely delighted in…...