Instant gratification 19th-century style, a novel about modern London, and a portrait of DH Lawrence’s muse

A brilliantly told tale of class, abuse and familial dysfunction marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in fiction

The author discusses her fears for free speech, older women, and her latest book, Outrages, a study of the persecution of gay men by the legal system in Victorian Britain

Tory MP’s tribute to the Victorians is more fantasy than history

A new book about the novel examines its relevance in the age of fake news and Trump

Joan Smith examines the roots of terrorism

Nikesh Shukla selects writers who explore the struggle to fit into the dominant culture of a country

Abandoned project discovered in Oxford basement helps confirm influence of 14th-century master on Lord of the Rings

What happens when the robots take control?

Her new novel reimagines Frankenstein for the AI era. The Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit author talks immortality, anger and why she’s still an evangelist

A plea for the return of white-tailed eagles, cranes and bustards – and a wild, not manicured, Britain

This stunning novel based on the legend of Pericles navigates myth, imagination and the power of storytelling

The trade stand-off between China and the US escalated this week, but what exactly does ‘tariff’ mean?

State senate’s near-total abortion ban prompts demand for genre to treat issue as ‘a normal part of life, not a moral lesson’

The former laureate praises the appointment of Armitage, who will make the most of a role that has become less about ‘royal stuff’ and more about the poetry of everyday life

The author on Emily Dickinson’s ‘searing’ poetry, being unable to finish Finnegans Wake and why she finds comfort in disturbing fairytales

From a young adult love story to Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown trilogy, books exploding the myth that working-class writing is always miserable or urban

Katie Hickman’s study recounts stories with sympathy, clarity and verve, but raises the question of British misapprehensions about the empire

British-Sri Lankan’s debut In Our Mad and Furious City, set on a housing estate during riots sparked by the murder of a British soldier, wins £30,000 award

In response to a list of the 100 best crime novels that had only 28 female authors, Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid and Dreda Say Mitchell and other leading writers nominate some alternatives

Espionage at its most effective: the tale of Richard Sorge, the brilliant chancer who lived intensely and was betrayed by the USSR

With London’s British Museum about to stage the biggest exhibition of the comic-book artform outside Japan, Tokyo-born graphic novelist Fumio Obata discusses its enduring appeal and some of the show’s…

A fascinating examination of how language and speech are key to our humanity by a professor of acoustic engineering

Researcher claims to have cracked mystery of 15th-century text but others are sceptical