PAPERBACKS

THE RUIN OF ALL WITCHES by Malcolm Gaskill 336pp, Penguin, £9.99 ÌÌÌÌÌ

What would you do if your neighbour cursed you? Gaskill’s pacy history chronicles New England’s first witch-hunt in 1651 – one with uncanny parallels to today’s censorious climate.

THE YOUNG HG WELLS by Claire Tomalin 272pp, Penguin, £10.99

Tomalin’s biography of the great Victorian writer, sex-mad autodidact and social-climbing socialist is strong on his raunchy early days – but less assured on why his writing matters now.

THE FELL by Sarah Moss 193pp, Picador, £8.99

A near-flawless work of lockdown fiction, Moss’s follow-up to Summerwater sees a woman flee her stifling isolation into the Lake District. But is it still too soon?