Literary news andreviews with alocal flavour

Our books editor Zoe West’s favourite picks for the month

The contemporary fiction writer talks to Zoe West

My only commandment is ‘Thou shalt not bore’

by Harriet Lane (£20, HB, Orion) What lies beneath the image we construct of ourselves? Ruth, newly divorced and drifting as her daughter leaves home, feels invisible – until Sookie, her dazzling form

Zoe West shares her favourite picks for the week