The Indian Empire at War

George Morton-Jack

Little, Brown, £25, pp592

The role of the Indian army in the first world war has been largely ignored, which is why Morton-Jack’s second book, an absorbing and well-researched study, is so welcome. It explores a remarkably diverse fighting force – 1.5 million men of all creeds and castes – who were sent thousands of miles from home to battlefields where many perished for the British empire. Treated poorly in comparison with their fellow soldiers, they nonetheless conducted themselves with gallantry. This book is a fitting testament to the sacrifices they made.

The Corset

Laura Purcell

Raven, £12.99, pp416

Laura Purcell’s second novel revisits the gothic preoccupations of her first, The Silent Companions, to both chilling and ridiculous effect. The narrative revolves around the intertwined fortunes of socialite and prison visitor Dorothea Truelove and penniless seamstress Ruth Butterham; the latter is suspected of her father’s murder and so comes into Dorothea’s purview. Ruth has a special talent, the disclosure of which will divide readers into those who believe it and thus enjoy Purcell’s seductive wallow in Victorian suspense, and those who find it a suspension of disbelief too far. Nonetheless, all but the most cynical will find it hard to stop turning the pages.

The Toy Makers

Robert Dinsdale

Del Rey, £8.99, pp480

Robert Dinsdale’s engaging and enchanting new novel offers the literary equivalent of a Guillermo del Toro film; it is, at its best, a fairytale for adults, with all the wonder – and terror – that that entails. It follows the story of Cathy Wray, a runaway teenager who finds herself joining the mysterious Emporium, presided over by the equally enigmatic Papa Jack. The shop sells toys, but these are anything but disposable trinkets; they testify to the unquenchable power of the imagination. Even as the story takes an inevitably darker turn with the advent of the second world war, it is the sense of joy that lingers in this fine book.

• To order The Indian Empire at War for £21.50, The Corset for £11.17 or The Toy Makers for £7.73, go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99