Culture From morality clauses to sensitivity readers: inside UK publishing’s identity crisis Is the books world in urgent need of change – or simply running scared of Twitter? By Alex Clark
Kate Atkinson’s Transcription is a nimble and convincing tale of espionage The author clearly amuses herself with the sheer implausibility and theatricality of the world she describes. By Alex Clark
Set between Sheffield and Bangladesh, The Friendly Ones is frequently disorientating Philip Hensher’s 12th work of fiction is a synthesis of material, traditions and styles. By Alex Clark
Julian Barnes’s latest novel, The Only Story, is a tale of absolute devastation Barnes leads the unsuspecting reader into a dark tangle of addiction, violence, abuse, mental disarray and non sequitur. By Alex Clark
Orhan Pamuk’s The Red-Haired Woman is playful and unsettling At times, the novel seems to owe as much to Dostoevsky as to the epics of the long-distant past. By Alex Clark
Hari Kunzru’s White Tears: Even white boys gets the blues A story of two obsessive record collectors becomes an interrogation of authenticity and the transformative power of music. By Alex Clark
“Writing is everything and I am nothing”: the vanishing acts of Elena Ferrante Frantumaglia: a Writer’s Journey is a collection of letters, interviews and pieces from 1991 to this year, and explore the writer's… By Alex Clark
Scar tissue: Is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara more than the sum of its parts? Yanagihara’s Booker-shortlisted novel explores abuse but sheds little new light on her subject. By Alex Clark
The end of the affair: Rose Tremain’s The American Lover reviewed The protagonists of Rose Tremain’s fifth collection of short stories – her first since 2005’s The Darkness of Wallis Simpson –… By Alex Clark