For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, by Nathan Englander (Faber, £6.99 in UK)

Less a collection of stories than a theme and variation on the subject of Jewishness, Nathan Englander's astonishing debut makes you laugh, cry - and wonder just what he'll come up with next. These short fictions play off against each other as the motifs enter and exit like characters in a play, or melodies in a minor-key sonata. They're people we know, yet cannot have known; the matchmaker, the concentration camp victims, the errant husband, the unfulfilled wife. Englander is a product of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and, it must be said, a good ad for it: thoughtful, thought-provoking stuff.