Joy Stephens would appear to have everything to live for - she's a successful City lawyer, about to be made a partner at the age of 33 - but she is planning to commit suicide before the day is out. When we first meet her, we get an insight into...

The narrator of Julie Otsuka's second novel is a chorus: the disembodied 'we' of a cohort of Japanese women who travel to the United States at the start of the twentieth century as picture brides; the book follows them from their initial sea voyage through to their being...

Simon Lelic is developing a track record as a novelist who approaches his subject matter from interesting angles and explores thorny moral issues, notably in his 2010 debut Rupture, a multi-viewpoint examination of what drove a teacher to open fire in a school assembly. Lelic turned the conspiracy...

It's that time of year for looking back, so here are five of the books I most enjoyed reading in 2011. All of them received their first UK publication this year.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Rose Edelstein is on the verge of turning nine when...

Sarah Winman's first novel is a story of family, friendship, love, and what can hold together lives that threaten to disintegrate. Our narrator is Elly Portman, who chronicles her life from early childhood in the 1970s; there is darkness from the start, but it's intertwined with fortune and levity. A...