An illustration of Slaughterhouse Village by Toby Whitebread ©Toby Whitebread Jan 11, 2013

Appetite for corruption

A story of unbridled rapacity mirrors China’s path to modernisation. Krys Lee reviews ‘Pow!’, by Mo Yan

Jan 11, 2013

Promised land

One family’s struggle in 20th-century America. Maria Crawford reviews ‘The Twelve Tribes of Hattie’, by Ayana Mathis

Jan 11, 2013

In brief

David Evans reviews ‘The Gurkha’s Daughter’, by Prajwal Parajuly, and ‘How to Be a Good Wife’, by Emma Chapman

An illustration of dysfunctional people by Amanda Hutt ©Amanda Hutt Jan 4, 2013

‘Tenth of December’ by George Saunders

Tales of a dysfunctional America redeemed by kindness. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney reviews ‘Tenth of December’, by George Saunders

The Orchardist Jan 4, 2013

Forbidden fruit

An impressive debut set in the Pacific Northwest. Suzi Feay reviews ‘The Orchardist’, by Amanda Coplin

The Cook Jan 4, 2013

Felony and fine dining

David Evans reviews ‘The Cook’, by Wayne Macauley

Lamb Jan 4, 2013

Of adolescence and adulthood

David Evans reviews ‘Lamb’, by Bonnie Nadzam

The Devil All the Time Jan 4, 2013

Calculated violence

James Urquhart reviews ‘The Devil All the Time’, by Donald Ray Pollock

Field surgeons operate on a soldier in Gallipoli, 1915. ©Getty Dec 21, 2012

The walking wounded

Thomas Keneally’s ‘The Daughters of Mars’ is an assured first world war story of two nurses with their own secret traumas. By Michael Prodger

Illustration of Big Ray by Stacey Knights ©Stacey Knights Dec 14, 2012

Weighed down

Michael Kimball’s ‘Big Ray’ is a semi-autobiographical novel of a young man’s empathetic voyage round an obese ogre of a father. By Emily Stokes