The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

Loss Protocol by Paul McAuley; Night Babies by Lucie McKnight Hardy; Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell; Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker

Go Gentle by Maria Semple review – a joyfully clever New York romcom

A Stoic philosopher navigates midlife in this madcap comedy from the author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Circle of Wonders by Kathryn Heyman review – solace and healing in an acid-etched portrait of a dysfunctional family

Heyman’s story about women struggling to put aside their hurts and do right by one another is all about rage, vulnerability, forgiveness and a bit of woo-woo

You Are the Führer’s Unrequited Love by Jean-Noël Orengo review – Hitler, Speer and beyond

This unconventional exploration of Albert Speer’s duplicity during his Nazi years and into his rehabilitation is a masterful forewarning of the post-truth era

Rebecca Hall obituary

Other lives: Writer, campaigner and a determined advocate for animals

Two for two? Stella prize winner Evelyn Araluen nominated again for second poetry collection

The Rot is nominated for the $60,000 prize for Australian women and non-binary writers, alongside books by Geraldine Brooks and Miranda Darling

My Lover, the Rabbi by Wayne Koestenbaum review – as fierce and strange as anything you’ll read this year

With echoes of Balzac and Proust, this tale of obsessive love evokes the dangers and delights of forbidden desire

Upward Bound by Woody Brown review – extraordinary debut from a non-speaking autistic author

This garrulous, charming story of a young man stuck in a daycare centre for disabled adults offers a vital insider’s perspective

The Hair of the Pigeon by Mohammed Massoud Morsi review – an epic tale of a refugee’s journey

The Egyptian-Danish-Australian journalist’s second novel spans continents, following a Palestinian teen as he comes of age during the Syrian civil war and is forced into exile

Into the Wreck by Susannah Dickey review – an immersive exploration of grief

Set in County Donegal, the poet’s polyphonic third novel wittily explores the fragile dynamics of a family navigating the loss of a father

Life of Pi author Yann Martel: ‘I thought the Iliad was a book for old farts… then I started getting ideas’

The Life of Pi author Yann Martel explains why his new retelling of Homer’s Iliad offers the ideal antidote to the age of Trump

Sororicidal by Edwina Preston review – a tale of two sisters tinged with danger

The author deftly captures the intricacies and subtle violence of a sibling relationship. As both girls age, our sympathies shift again and again

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley review – the laureate of bad relationships

Riley has always skewered cruelty with shattering exactitude. What’s new in this story of two old friends in London is the delicacy she brings to moments of tenderness

A feud ‘straight out of Succession’, a rental thriller and an ‘absolute ripper’: the best Australian books out in April

Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on

Under Water by Tara Menon review – love, loss and a longing for the ocean

This debut about female friendship and environmental fragility set after the 2004 tsunami in Thailand is strong on grief, but the storytelling remains uneven