But our journey with this handful of extraordinary books continues, and journeys define them all in certain ways. Markovits’s America is peopled by divorcees who, like Dante’s pilgrim, have reached the middle of their lives only to discover they’re lost. You might also find yourself wanting to argue with István, whose life story unfolds in David Szalay’s novel Flesh. Like all its companions on this year’s shortlist, the questions and moods it summons live on long after the book is closed. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter.