A portrait of a working-class community on Long Island in the 1970s is shot through with melancholy yet, as Judy Chicurel tells Lucy Scholes, it still evokes fond memories
The South Sudanese writer explores what might have happened if he had been a child soldier – a fate he avoided by a whisker, writes Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy
Amity Gaige's UK debut, a father's confession following his abduction of his daughter, has won praise from the likes of Jonathan Franzen, writes Alison Flood
Scott Hutchins's first full-length book, about a drifting San Francisco computer nerd, has been compared to the work of Nick Hornby. By Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy
The 37-year-old's first novel combines fiction with nature writing to reveal the consequences of ignoring our natural environment, writes Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy
Her collection of short stories, written in a period of bereavement and homesickness, has been hailed as a vital new narrative of the American west, says Corinne Jones
