Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (Harvill Secker £18.99): Grass's memoir of his early life and controversial war experiences is both subtle and expertly written
Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin (H Hamilton £20): a breathtaking celebration, published posthumously, of man's relationship with trees
After This by Alice McDermott (Bloomsbury £10.99): evocative novel about a family's travails in 1950s and 1960s America
Napoleon: The Path to Power 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer (Bloomsbury £20): remarkable biography that explodes many of the myths about his ascent