Growing up in New England, in a town simmering with menace, Ruthie suffers the agonies of parental neglect

Aged 14, Hadley Freeman succumbed to it, and was offered many conflicting explanations. She herself finally attributes it to a fear of approaching womanhood

Ian Buruma describes three individuals who saved themselves in wartime by betraying others. But none was a ‘typical traitor’, or essentially different from the rest of us

Vuillard’s powerful novel analyses the French army’s humiliation in 1954 at the siege of Dien Bien Phu, and the motivations of the principal players

Rainer Werner Fassbinder made 43 highly original films, and was planning another when he died – at the same age, and in the same way, as his idol

Their winning formula has been to present themselves as the party of patriotism and economic competence, while stealing the opposition’s clothes whenever it suited them

Katty Baird braves the cliffs and wind-blasted moors of East Lothian to identify as many species of these maligned insects as possible

The horologist Rebecca Struthers takes us on a journey through time-measurement, from a 44,000-year-old bone carving to the modern Rolex

Inherited knowledge saved the indigenous Andaman islanders from the 2004 tsunami. But how will fast-changing data affect our judgment?

Jeremy Dauber highlights the tension within Brooks of warring Jewish archetypes, personified by Max and Leo in the masterpiece The Producers

A novel full of surprises weaves together stories of disparate characters – all mysteriously connected to the elderly novelist Dora Frenhofer

On the anniversary of Hendrix’s death, ageing hippies gather in Lviv to perform a bizarre ritual by a grave marked with his name

When Michael Laudor’s schizophrenia spiralled out of control in 1998, it made headline news in America. Jonathan Rosen remembers earlier, happier days with his friend

Heydrich had microphones installed throughout Madam Kitty’s salon in the hope of obtaining ‘useful’ information from visiting diplomats and political rivals

Eight eclectic fables draw on magic realism, science fiction, fairy tales, the Gothic, religion, brutal realism and horror movies

Louise Erdrich explores her Ojibwe heritage, learning to read ancient painted signs on rocks and making ritual offerings to the spirits

The official policy in the event of nuclear war veered from fatuous evacuation plans to a directive to stockpile food, stay home and hope for the best

Katja Hoyer evokes the tears and anger – but also the laughter and pride, as citizens raised their children, went on holidays and joked about their politicians

When Cecilia disappears, her husband and children are left haunted by the mystery – until a character in a German novel strikes the daughter as strangely familiar