Restrictions on publishers and sellers have grown more severe. Volumes are being pulled from shelves or redacted like secret documents, but bookstores remain important sources of community.
The second novel from Oyinkan Braithwaite, the breakout author of “My Sister, the Serial Killer,” offers a sweeping and sobering take on romantic fatalism.
Kiran Desai’s “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” is the favorite, but books by Andrew Miller, Katie Kitamura and Susan Choi are also in the running for the prestigious award.
In Gráinne O’Hare’s witty debut, “Thirst Trap,” 30th birthdays — and an unexpected death — signal new horizons (if not sobriety) for three longtime friends in Belfast.
In “The Heart-Shaped Tin,” the British food writer Bee Wilson offers a bittersweet ode to the everyday tools we use in the kitchen, along with stories great and small.