The desolation of a prisoner-of-war camp in the American civil war is drawn with tragic power

New masterpiece from the author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z is as much about literature as adventure

Whether sad, fierce or downright murderous, these clairvoyant figures have enthralled writers from Sophocles to Charlotte Brontë and Hilary Mantel

A stylish double biography paints a picture of the modern age through the eyes of two uniquely perceptive American writers

Novelist Mark Billingham advises readers to angrily launch a book across the room after 20 non-gripping pages – but almost 40% of people will keep going right to the end

Some distrust kvetching in print, but writers from Shakespeare to Valerie Solanas show there’s nothing wrong with constructive – and even destructive – criticism

William Shakespeare’s influence on English literature is enormous, but from Dr Johnson to Germaine Greer, some outstanding works have explored his legacy and life story

Publishers report that coronavirus has boosted sales of long, classic novels. You reveal the great baggy monsters you’ve found the time to tackle

The author on being inspired by Sue Townsend, frightened by Beatrix Potter – and the monologue she wishes she’d written

The author of Call Me By Your Name on laughing out loud at The Pickwick Papers and racing through Enid Blyton

The book features gay marriage, hits out at slavery and imperialism and predicts the climate crisis – 200 years after the birth of its author, Herman Melville, it has never been more important

From magnanimous Mrs Wilcox in Howards End to the bloodthirsty Captain Bildad in Moby-Dick, these portrayals complicate porridge-oat stereotypes

From Shakespeare to Woolf, Turner to Gormley, Philip Hoare explores the eternal allure of the ocean