Neighbourhood watch

After Tess died, Adam started to hate her family. Almost as much as he hated his own ability to cope

Since my father died, something has been wrong with my son. At least, I hope it's something wrong with him

The prophet Muhammad's love life is a sensitive subject. But was the book Random House decided not to publish worth all the fuss?

The world is full of killers, schemers and liars. But I know what I did

Music helped Chen Wei to survive the cultural revolution. But it also brought him an unexpected lesson in desire

Zöe Heller's first two novels won her a reputation as a leading chronicler of middle-class viciousness. Her latest is equally acerbic but also introduces a subtler and more satisfying note of compassion

You know what I'm like. I know what you're like. But we can't say it right

Howard Jacobson's early works show him to be a master of comic complaint and morbid eroticism. But his latest novel is a departure for more complex, compromised territory—and a sobering lesson in the interconnectedness of fidelity, love and fury

Janna Levin's first novel is a compelling fictionalisation of the lives of two great scientists. But her gift lies not so much in bringing science to life as in showing how life itself fuels great science

I haven't seen my father in three years. But with my writer's block and looming deadline, he's come to visit at the worst possible time

The last half century has seen long-distance migration shift from an exceptional to a normal aspect of global life. As Eva Hoffman's latest novel shows, this new migration is a realm of more subtle traumas and dislocations than the old,…