The Long Cloud by Hector MacKenzie review – there’s only so much depth to a himbo
This wry debut novel about a male model’s inner life, written in lowercase fragments, has tender insights but isn’t as profound as it aims to be
Reviews
The Guardian
Reviews from the Guardian and the Observer
2026
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The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson audiobook review – a Caribbean child’s-eye view of 60s Bradford
The author captures the comedy and cruelty in this tenderly written coming-of-age tale
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Dodge City by Patrick deWitt review – a wild draft-dodging road trip
This tale of a 60s college dropout driving across the US to avoid being sent to Vietnam is committed to both readerly pleasure and literary artifice
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Dèy by Edwidge Danticat review – motherhood and trauma in Miami
The first novel in over a decade from the acclaimed Haitian-American author lacks the power of earlier works
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Stations by Louise Kennedy review – a superb follow-up to Trespasses
This tale of broken hearts and broken people moves from the Troubles of 1980s Northern Ireland to an unforgiving London of squats and payphones
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Range by Dorthe Nors review – an astrophysicist at odds with reality
In the Danish writer’s latest novel, an eminent scientist withdraws to the countryside
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Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty review – Big Little Lies sequel shoots for high drama but fails to deliver
At 400-plus pages, Moriarty’s follow-up is too long and offers too little reward, with menopause, vaping teens and even a stalker failing to raise the stakes
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Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel review – alternate visions of post-crisis America
Is the price of stability necessarily the loss of freedom? Two possible future worlds are linked in the new novel from the author of Station Eleven
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The Complex by Karan Mahajan review – a superb family saga set in Delhi
At once a grand sweep through history and a domestic novel of petty differences, this tale of corruption and betrayal is packed with drama
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Doom Painting by AK Blakemore review – a dazzling epic of the Peasants’ Revolt
This recklessly ambitious doorstopper follows the 16 days of England’s medieval uprising from a vast array of viewpoints, and in startlingly rich prose
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Cul-de-Sac by Eleanor Limprecht review – a powerful and timely novel about domestic abuse
Limprecht explores male violence without succumbing to tropes, bringing the monster into the room and forcing us to really look at him
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The Strangers by Naomi Alderman review – where has this odd new species come from?
A bereavement memoir mingles with speculative fiction, in a wise and ragged examination of grief from the author of The Power
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Safe Spaces by Tice Cin review – a kaleidoscopic vision of precarity, music and grief
Part spoken-word poem, part journalistic meditation, this is an inventive, tender novel of a songwriter’s journey through love and loss in London
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The Rouse by China Miéville review – a mighty achievement from the ‘new weird’ author
Twenty years in the writing, this paranormal epic of cold war espionage and family tragedy is a quantum leap in terms of ambition and moral seriousness
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Farewell to Eden by Sebastian Faulks review – conflict and compromise, from a veteran of the genre
A returning British soldier is haunted by his time in Palestine in this panoramic epic set after the second world war
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A Thought Without Collision by Adrian Duncan review – a brilliant interrogation of philosophy and wonder
With a character inspired by Wittgenstein, this exploration of the mysteries of the universe draws on multiple philosophical traditions
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Taipei Story by Rebecca F Kuang review – the torture and hilarity of learning Chinese
An American Chinese student studies Mandarin in Taiwan, in this heartfelt journey of self-discovery and family secrets
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Gone Guru by Nadine Browne review – a clever and funny metafictional caper
This debut novel follows a 38-year-old whose flatmate goes missing at the same time as her memoir manuscript is being torn apart by her classmates
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The Newer World by Sebastian Barry review – a near-miracle of storytelling
The third in a loose American trilogy follows the epic journey of a formerly enslaved man in the aftermath of the civil war
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