The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy: Essays from a writer who delves deep inside life’s gory realities
Levy’s restless intelligence probes the dark corners of the mind and draws attention to lesser-known 20th-century female voices
Gliff by Ali Smith: Part allegory, part dystopian fiction, altogether thrilling
With their mix of light and shade, these stories explore the breaking point, the point of no return
Time of the Child by Niall Williams: A warm and life-affirming story about ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths
Williams favours lyrical language, lines that run on with an abundance of detail, lush and opining
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst review: Beautifully observed tracking of an actor into old age
Alan Hollinghurst captures the essence of a life and the mother-son relationship with graceful era-shifting and time always as a motif
Elizabeth Strout: ‘I don’t know many people who didn’t have something disturbing happen in their childhood’
The American author on why she keeps returning to certain characters, how waitressing informed her writing, and how people fear ‘naked distress’ in others
Rachel Kushner: ‘Ireland is my favourite place to go as a writer. It’s completely magical’
The US author, whose new novel Creation Lake is longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, on US politics, the war in Gaza and her love of Ireland
Liars by Sarah Manguso: A deft portrait of a dysfunctional marriage of unequals
Jane is a successful writer while her husband, John, is a failed artist turned embittered entrepreneur who upends their relationship
My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss: A bleak, often brilliant personal history
The desire to be worthy, or the fear of not being worthy enough, is explored in this moving memoir
Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan: ‘Companion’ novel to The Spinning Heart is a welcome return
Ryan’s prose is a masterclass in balance, which lets him get away with lines that could seem overwrought in less capable hands
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher: Mad, brilliant novel about a Palestinian woman in New York
Obsessive cleaning and cynicism about designer brands are elements of this debut about a Palestinian woman
Bodies by Christine Anne Foley: a slippery, shape-shifting story about the indignities of modern dating
Bodies moves away from its realist literary opening into something approaching horror but ends up being a lot of fun
Test Kitchen by Neil Stewart: One chaotic and thrilling evening of service
This infuriatingly brilliant novel gets swallowed up in its scaffolding
Parade by Rachel Cusk: Daring and discombobulating
Stories, observations and conversations overlap in this mind-bending book
Godwin by Joseph O’Neill: Novel of narrative flair uses football in Africa as a prism
New York-based Corkman explores world of intersecting crises with humour and humanity
Rónán Hession: ‘I’m at the stage where I’ve lost loads of people... everyone is different, so every grief is different’
As his new book Ghost Mountain is about to hit the shelves, the senior civil servant, acclaimed musician and author isn’t dreaming of quitting his day job