A dark satanic cult: The Third Realm, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, reviewed
It explores the strange phenomenon of the black metal music scene in socially balanced Norway
Novelists
Tuesday
Friday
Heartbreaking scenes: Annihilation, by Michel Houellebecq, reviewed
Annihilation is far from faultless. Yet it’s a novel of massive ambition
Saturday
Visitants from the past: The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, reviewed
Narratives, counter-narratives, twists and frenzied bouts of cleaning up the timeline ensue
Saturday
A timely morality tale: The Spoiled Heart, by Sunjeev Sahota, reviewed
Conflicting ideals of old-school socialism and modern identity politics are fought out against a background of urban desolation worthy of Dickens
Monday
Mediterranean Gothic: The Sleepwalkers, by Scarlett Thomas, reviewed
In The Sleepwalkers, Thomas insistently and cleverly shows that a novel can do what a series screenplay can’t or won’t
Thursday
Garbriel García Márquez has been ill-served by his sons
The writer was right. Until August isn’t worthy of him and should probably have been left in the archives
Friday
Sisterly duty: The Painter’s Daughters, by Emily Howes, reviewed
The painter in The Painter’s Daughters is Thomas Gainsborough, famous as a great portraitist and landscape artist
Tuesday
Back from the beyond: The Book of Love, by Kelly Link, reviewed
The Book of Love, her debut novel, brilliantly takes on fantasy tropes
Thursday
Three men in exile: My Friends, by Hisham Matar, reviewed
Hisham Matar’s novel is a paean to reading widely
Thursday
Back-room boys: Family Meal, by Bryan Washington, reviewed
Family Meal focuses on the web of relationships among a group of predominantly black, urban gay men