The Books Editor’s top picks from the forthcoming Manchester Literature Festival

“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”

Zadie Smith’s The Embassy of Cambodia is a unique, thought-provoking novel, which shows how the small things in life can raise big questions, says Books Editor Esmé Clifford Astbury

NW may not have the punch of White Teeth, but Zadie Smith’s novels have matured alongside her, and this portrayal of London captures something real