A critic’s first duty is to consider the work on its merits. Lionel Shriver makes that…

The period mannerisms are trowelled on in this exuberant but creaky Regency wheeze

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor: As near to faultless as makes no difference

The Countenance Divine: A scholarly but stimulating debut novel

In The Sunlight Pilgrims, identities begin fracturing in a bracingly plausible near-future of climate change and…