Is old age necessarily degrading? Should we leave home in our final years? Is there ever a good time to go? Novelist, biographer and critic Dame Margaret Drabble, now aged 77, discusses the difficult questions that arise as we age—and recommends five books that examine them in depth.

The Middle East is so dominated by war and politics that all literature must be viewed through this prism, says Israeli novelist Ayelet Gundar-Goshen. She recommends the best Israeli novels.

Aristotle tells us that all politics starts in the family, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the infamously fraught relationship between mother and daughter. Here, the novelist, playwright and poet Deborah Levy chooses five books – or rather, four books and one film – that explore motherhood.

Books are made of trees and sometimes they’re also about trees. Best-selling author Tracy Chevalier picks the five best trees in fiction.

The author chooses his top five books on boyhood and growing up, major themes of his Booker-nominated debut The Fishermen.