More thoughts from our reviewers and friends on the very best books they have read this year

NICK SPENCER
Sumantra Bose’s Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey, and the Future of Secularism (Cambridge University Press, £29.99; Tablet price £26.99) is not an obvious choice, but it takes the reader through the thickets of Indian and Turkish politics with erudition and balance. Not only did I emerge much better-informed about two major global players about whom I knew pitifully little but – more importantly – the book shows why secular politics consistently fails to deliver on its promises.

ARIANE BANKES
In The Wife’s Tale (Fourth Estate, £9.99; Tablet price £9), Aida Edemariam movingly evokes her grandmother’s turbulent life in Ethiopia as it evolved from a feudal monarchy to a Marxist dictatorship. Betrothed aged eight to a cleric two decades older, Yetemegnu’s cloistered yet privileged life was no preparation for the cataclysmic overthrow of Empire, and the independence she had to forge. The stories she spun for her granddaughter evoke a life of beauty and hardship lived with utmost dignity.