An ex-UK envoy’s compelling account of the chaotic military withdrawal from the country is full of telling details, while Seierstad’s latest work drives home the cruel reality of women’s lives after the return of Taliban ruleIn August 2021, Britain’s last ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, climbed on to a table holding a kitchen knife. He...

In the week that the country’s election results are announced, this disturbing study of individuals imprisoned without trial illustrates Modi’s autocratic rule and the plight of minorities and dissentersIt began with a riot. On New Year’s Day 2018, thousands of historically oppressed Dalits arriving for an annual commemoration at Bhima Koregaon, a village...

Three sisters attempt to deal with their father’s death as the end of the world draws near in an evocative novel about sibling rivalryIn Julia Armfield’s third book the effects of the climate crisis are felt daily. The city in which sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes live has been transformed by endless rain – and in turn its inhabitants have had to transform...

A compelling debut novel set on an all-female commune in rural Kent explores how cults ensnare vulnerable peopleAmy Twigg’s striking debut offers a new twist on the cult narrative. Rather than focusing on a charismatic male leader, Spoilt Creatures (the title comes from a letter Vita Sackville-West wrote to Virginia Woolf) is about one woman’s sway...

Fletcher’s epic and witty study unearths the history of the Roman roads and their hold on our imagination, while Gilbert celebrates Alcide De Gasperi, the postwar Christian Democrat politician whose passion for democracy energised a country scarred by war and MussoliniThere are few concepts as resonant as “Roman road”. The words ooze purpose, chutzpah...

The bestselling author on how to avoid reader indifference, the advantage of writing historical stories and why she returns to Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates again and againRose Tremain, 80, published her first novel in 1976 and has gone on to become one of her generation’s most admired talents, garnering numerous literary accolades along with a damehood...