The End of the West David Marquand (Princeton, £16.95) Marquand, a founder member of the Social Democratic Party, argues that Europe’s financial and political problems stem from outdated perceptions of global power, and says European governance must change if the continent is to halt its slide into irrelevance. Marquand, former Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, will be discussing his diagnosis of Europe’s ills at the Oxford Literary Festival at 4pm on April 2.

Blueyedboy Joanne Harris (Black Swan, £7.99) Those who loved Chocolat may be shocked by Harris’s latest novel, now in paperback. The story is told in the form of a webjournal kept by Blueyedboy. Aged 42, he lives at home with his mother — or does he? The epitome of an unreliable narrator, he plays out his social life on a website called badguysrock, where he meets his match — the Marlboro-smoking Albertine. Joanne Harris is speaking at five different events at the Oxford Literary Festival.

The Selfish Society Sue Gerhardt (Simon & Schuster, £8.99) Gerhardt, a psychoanalyst, believes that society suffers because some people don’t receive the care they need as babies. She argues for a more caring philosophy to be integrated into our political and economic life. She will be at the festival in what promises to be a lively discussion with controversial Tory teacher Katharine Birbalsingh, the poet Michael Foley and journalist Ann Leslie at 4pm on April 3.

Jerusalem Simon Sebag-Montefiore (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, £25) An ambitious project — a ‘biography’ of the city from the time of King David to the present day. It’s an epic 3,000-year history which attempts to explain how Jerusalem became the Holy City and now the key to peace in the Middle East. The author will discuss how he drew on family papers and other archives to compile his history at Oxford Literary Festival, 4pm, April 4.

The Mango Orchard Robin Bayley (Arrow, £7.99) This is a surprisingly moving story about the author’s search for the truth about his great-grandfather’s life during the Mexican revolution, and also a travelogue about Bayley’s travels in Latin America. Oxford Literary Festival, 2pm, April 10.