Ubiquitous but taboo, cancer is the villain of Siddhartha Mukherjee's stirring saga, The Emperor of All Maladies, a compulsively readable, surprisingly uplifting and vivid tale.
Helen Simonson's delightful debut novel, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, is as much a gently p.c. look at the British class system tucked inside a sly comedy of manners as it is a love story.