The rural life, darkly
After a few also-ran novels, Britain's Graham Swift is back with top-notch work.
That lovely hare
Potter Edmund de Waal's look into his family past is steeped in sadness.
Reinventing Diana
What if Lady Di faked her own death and went into hiding in... Kensington, U.S.A.?
Pulse
Julian Barnes gets to the often sexual, always intimate relationship we call "love."
Jacobson’s Jews
Howard Jacobson has a weakness for burlesque, which erodes his portrait of British Jews.
Conspiring Rome
What's The Brotherhood of Owls? Pose the Q to sovrintendente Nic Costa.
Sheffield, burning
Sunjeev Sahota's debut novel delves skillfully into homegrown British terrorism.
Bleak freedom
Jonathan Franzen's newest novel is much about being a slave to who you are — forever.
Luka and the Fire of Life
Wizardly charm from Salman Rushdie in this erudite book for his son.
Rule by Twisted River
John Irving packs a country-and-a-half into "Last Night in Twisted River."
Blair-World
Tony Blair's vain and intriguing autobiography tackles a critical decade.
Predator and prey
Emma Donoghue's mesmerizing "Room" pushes a five-year-old narrator to the limit.