Expertly adapted novel about young women beginning adult life in the wake of the second world war is shadowed by trauma but full of life and merriment

Women’s role in espionage, largely written by women, leans less on explosions and more on perception, nuance and explorations of sacrifice – though they still kick ass

Taylor is both hammy and subtle as a woman on the verge of a breakdown in this preposterous but watchable 1974 drama that features an extraordinary cameo from Andy Warhol

The places where half of waking life unfolds for many people aren’t famous settings for drama, but writers from Muriel Spark to Dave Eggers show why they should be

Most stories adhere to linear plots, but a select few – by authors from Martin Amis to Muriel Spark and Toni Morrison – respin the cogs to unforgettable effect

The row over a new biography of Philip Roth has exposed the way agents and estates restrict access and manage archives to maintain a writer’s posthumous good name

From Homer to Hilary Mantel, these inspiring, sometimes ambiguous figures are a perennial flint-spark for storytelling

All the shows, books and even bands to seek out if you need more of a Fleabag-y fix

Philip Hensher suggests some great novelists, from GK Chesterton to VS Naipaul, who aren’t on the curriculum

The novelist, biographer and critic on laughing at Muriel Spark and never reading any Harry Potter

The playwright, novelist and poet on the cleverness of Muriel Spark, how Marguerite Duras influenced her and why Zora Neale Hurston is underrated