A life in ...FictionInterviewMiriam Toews: ‘I worried people would think, what is wrong with this family?’Interview by Alice O'KeeffeThe Canadian author of All My Puny Sorrows talks about growing up a Mennonite and how she managed to transform family tragedy into a novel suffused with joy I meet Miriam Toews as she is awaiting the announcement of the Folio prize, for which her novel All My Puny Sorrows has been shortlisted.

World newsNew warning on Taj MahalIndia's largest state has launched an investigation into whether the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world, is sinking into the earth after experts warned about the drying out of a nearby river. This month two historians pointed out the Taj Mahal may already be tilting and could crumble or sink if the government of Uttar Pradesh, the state in which the Taj is located, did not pay immediate attention to the monument's immediate surroundings.

The ObserverThrillersReviewThe survivors of a mysterious childhood abduction struggle with their memories in Maggie Mitchell’s teasing, many-storied debutEver since Emma Donoghue, inspired by the Josef Fritzl case, impressed and horrified in equal measure with Room, there has been a slowly growing trend for thrillers about abducted children. Maggie Mitchell’s debut, Pretty Is, joins a phalanx of fellow kidnap-lit novels out in recent months – The Girl in the Red Coat, How I Lost You, The Boy That Never Was – but stands out for its slick, subversive take on a trope that is showing no signs of going away.

Elvis PresleyReturn of the king: Elvis hologram show to premiere in LondonElvis Evolution promises ‘immersive’ experience with concerts also planned for Las Vegas, Tokyo and Berlin AI Elvis not the first hologram star to shake his moves on stage While some believe that the king of rock’n’roll may celebrate his 89th birthday next week propping up the bar of the Heartbreak Hotel, the rest of us will have to make do with an Elvis Presley hologram show in 2024.

FilmReviewAn intricate tapestry of 17th-century political intrigue and family feuding is bolstered by fabulous costumes as Chinese invaders are dealt with The Swordsman, a pacy, crisply choreographed South Korean action film set in the 17th century handicaps itself by opting for such a bland, generic title. It’s like naming a Hollywood action movie The Gunman or The Cop. Debutant writer-director Choi Jae-Hoon could have been a little more specific about the protagonist Tae-yul (played by boy-band-beautiful star and sometime rapper Jang Hyuk) by calling it The Blind Swordsman, given the character’s vision impairment.