There’s no doubt that Into the Water will sell a lot of copies. Like Paula Hawkins’ 2015 hit The Girl On the Train, this, her second thriller is one that will appear on those “beach reads” round-ups and stick around on bestseller stands at airports for months to come. Then, just when even your friend that “doesn’t do books” has read it, the film will come out ­– the rights have already been sold – and it will start again, this time with a Hollywood A-Lister on the cover. But is it any good? Well, I won’t deny that I was semi-gripped. Not quite still-reading-it-on-the-Tube-escalator gripped, but sufficiently so that I eschewed company at lunchtime for a few days to finish it.

Writer best known for metaphysical odyssey and counter-culture staple published in 1974 passes away at home in Maine

The novel written by Shanbhag, who has been compared to Chekhov, is the first of his works to translated into English 

Plath reportedly said Hughes had beat her two days before she suffered a miscarriage

More light has been shed on poets' famously turbulent marriage thanks to unseen correspondence between Plath and her therapist

''Volunteer' means 'someone who does something without being forced to do it''

The promotional material for the latest from Patterson, The Black Book, includes a quote by the author praising his own work

Journey into southern Italy’s ‘kitchen of the poor’ with Calabrian-born chef Francesco Mazzei, who lifts the lid on pots and pans simmering with delights such as stuffed calamari and aubergine chocolate cake 

It’s no secret – growing up can be hard to do. That’s why journalist Daisy Buchanan was inspired to write a book that’s part memoir and part self-help for her fellow millennials – but the final product bears a message that transcends its target demographic, making How to Be a Grown-Up a must-read for all ages

Kunzru's murder mystery is a meditation on American race relations and old-times blues

He didn't say Pennywise

Former Independent journalist and editor of 'Question Time', Charlie Courtauld wrote a personal diary of his experience of having multiple sclerosis, which was published as a newspaper column and blog, before his death last year

'People didn’t want any more diversity, they didn't want female characters out there'

Just because we get older doesn't mean the life lessons we learn from children's books are any less important. 

Her third intriguing novel about a wife who searches for her estranged husband in a Greek fishing village evokes Rachel Cusk's 'Outline' 

After a three book deal worth £350,000 with Simon & Schuster, best-selling author Dean Crawford self-published his action adventure and science fiction books on Amazon and other digital platforms, with incredible success 

This energetic debut novel about a jaded and alcohol-dependant music journalist who blags a press trip to a music festival in India to investigate his ancestry and has to deal with a dying newspaper industry will take you on a farcical adventure

After losing her baby, the journalist's honest and touching memoir, in which tragedy and other problems struck at the heart of her perfect life, is about life not always giving us what we want 

_ _ _ H _ _ / _ H _ _ _