Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie — family on the edgeA gripping novel of racial prejudice, radicalisation and cross-cultural loveSing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward — Mississippi burningA novel blazing with power, grief and tenderness that breathes danger into the classic American road tripWhen I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy — murder on the mindA female narrator writes of her violent marriage in this memoiristic novel set in southern IndiaThe Idiot by Elif Batuman — university challengeA witty debut novel that skewers the absurdities of academic lifeThe Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar — a gripping debutA study of the intertwined lives of sex workers and high society in Georgian LondonSight by Jessie Greengrass — let’s be seriousA promising debut novel is undermined by its author’s weakness for solemnity
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie — family on the edgeA gripping novel of racial prejudice, radicalisation and cross-cultural loveSing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward — Mississippi burningA novel blazing with power, grief and tenderness that breathes danger into the classic American road tripWhen I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy — murder on the mindA female narrator writes of her violent marriage in this memoiristic novel set in southern IndiaThe Idiot by Elif Batuman — university challengeA witty debut novel that skewers the absurdities of academic lifeThe Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar — a gripping debutA study of the intertwined lives of sex workers and high society in Georgian LondonSight by Jessie Greengrass — let’s be seriousA promising debut novel is undermined by its author’s weakness for solemnity