Books

A radical rural manifesto

The best-selling author of The Shepherd’s Life grew up thinking the Lake Poets had nothing to say for working people. Then he moved to the city and had a revelation

What to read to understand the body

Three books to illuminate the science, beauty and strangeness of the human anatomy

Who should pay the debts of slavery?

The Tory historian Nigel Biggar mounts a contradictory defence of empire, while in The Big Payback Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder make the case for reparations

Cashing in on Harper Lee

The Land of Sweet Forever is a cynical, barrel-scraping trawl through the To Kill a Mockingbird author’s slight early works

Tangled up in Bob Dylan

In a quest to discover if Bob Dylan is his father, Sam Sussman’s Boy from the North Country reimagines his late mother’s affair with the musician

Robert Caro, biographer who nails the patterns of power

Writer whose exhaustive profiles of Lyndon Johnson and Robert Moses are a must-read for global leaders

Giuliano da Empoli: ‘I’m the scribe of a dying civilisation’

The Wizard of the Kremlin author on tech conquistadors, threats to democracy, and his friendship with Emmanuel Macron

The hotel that tells the story of Kabul

Lyse Doucet's finely observed portrait of the Inter-Continental hotel opens a window on to years of upheaval in Afghanistan, from civil war to the return of the Taliban

Boris Becker and Björn Borg: Serving time

For the two tennis champions, retirement brought battles with drugs, adultery and prison. But only one man makes a triumphant story of his struggle

Claire-Louise Bennett: ‘Mystery is an essential part of loving someone’

The Big Kiss, Bye-Bye novelist on the challenges of capturing romantic relationships and the appeal of the gothic

Halloween books for kids to sink their teeth into

Vampires called Buffy and Bella, a haunted house, and a game of hide-and-seek feature among a spooky seasonal feast

Bora Chung’s ghosts of the present

The South Korean author's The Midnight Timetable is a supernatural story collection fit for the modern age

Evan Dando’s chaotic, narcotic life

The Lemonheads frontman’s riveting memoir Rumours of My Demise reveals the reality of addiction and fame

Sarah Perry on the reality of death

Following her father-in-law’s death from cancer, nine days after diagnosis, the Essex Serpent author wrote the book she found herself lacking at the time – a clear-eyed companion to sickness, faith and care at the end of life

How the World Cup shaped football’s gilded age

Books by Jonathan Wilson and Simon Kuper trace the tournament’s history through corruption, controversies and the fierce competition to host the lucrative game

László Krasznahorkai’s European nightmares

The Hungarian novelist’s political dystopias bear the unmistakable imprint of his country’s communist past

Jilly Cooper, saucy novelist who made Britain smile

Author whose bestselling novels dissected the lives and lust of the English upper-middle class

Beyond the bonkbuster: the best of Jilly Cooper

In her many interviews in The Observer over the years, the late queen of the bonkbuster was charming and candid. Here are some of the best extracts