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
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin: small town shenanigans
Everyone knows everyone else’s business in this engrossing debut novel
Openings by Lucy Caldwell: Enlightening and enriching collection of stories that closes a loose triptych
The Belfast writer explores the gap between how people behave and how they would like to behave
You Are Here by David Nicholls: A highly relatable love story of significance
This novel is vintage Nicholls and shows that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
Headshot is a coming-of-age story, a portrait of girlhood seen through competitive contact sport
Bullwinkel has created eight memorably unique teenage girls whose aim is literally to be singular, which is to say, number one