Art conquers all: The Disappearers by Marlon James, reviewed
In this Booker-shortlisted novel, Jamaica is a place where being gay is a matter of survival. It is about the lasting effects of violence and the immediate pleasure of sex, but its ultimate message is that art can give us the strength to live
The agonies of an abandoned wife: Mrs Dickens, by Emily Howes, reviewed
Charles Dickens is cast as a cruel, coercive controller, accusing the mother of his ten children of idleness and stupidity before discarding her for a younger woman
The reluctant spy: The Predicament, by William Boyd, reviewed
Sucked further into the quicksand of 1960s espionage, Gabriel Dax is sent to Guatemala, and then on to West Berlin, where he uncovers a plot to assassinate President Kennedy
Even as literate adults, we need to learn how to read
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst shows us the rewards of reading slowly and attentively – and making connections between seemingly disparate things
Adrift in the world: My Sister and Other Lovers, by Esther Freud, reviewed
A sequel to Hideous Kinky sees the two sisters Lucy and Bea, still close to their bohemian mother, trying (and failing) to negotiate life on their own terms as adults
