#FictionBookSCulture

This fascinating novel about 18th-century privateer Alexander Selkirk, abandoned on a tiny island in the South Pacific, becomes a revelatory meditation on humanity

A wannabe folk singer’s humdrum life as a shrimp catcher is upended by the arrival of a mysterious American stranger in the Booker-listed tale

Radical hope and rage combine in this tale of ecological precarity and resistance among sex workers on a brothel island

A north London cafe is under siege in a state-of-the-nation satire that brings together the haves and have-nots

The Booker winner’s epic tale of gay love and loneliness in the Hebrides charts an uneasy homecoming against a backdrop of repression

A young pregnant woman is assailed by dark visions of sisterhood in a novel splicing eco-horror, cosmic distress and ideas of the monstrous feminine

Renowned for her darkly funny novels exploring failed relationships, the writer has been awarded the Windham‑Campbell prize for a body of work. She explains why it will change her life – if not her outlook

From Theguardian RSS Feed: The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke review – a compelling debut of mental meltdown

From Books | The Guardian: The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis review – one of the boldest writers at work in English today

The bright young things of 1992’s Brightness Falls are now in their 60s in this verbose, clunky novel that seems more interested in lifestyle than inner lives

The premise – Instagram influencer is confronted by pioneer reality – is genius. But does this high-concept debut live up to the hype?

A man who meant to be a priest is faced with a moral crossroads in this ambitious and affecting first novel

From Books | The Guardian: Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh review – a climate-crisis novel let down by its prose

A Stoic philosopher navigates midlife in this madcap comedy from the author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette

The South African author on discovering Colette, being inspired by JG Ballard, and the subversive joys of Asako Yuzuki