Our top book picks this week: Escape to Pagan and an alternative South Africa where apartheid is still in effect

Escape to Pagan: The True Story of One Family’s Fight to Survive in World War II Occupied Asia
Brian Devereux,
Casemate UK,
March 31
The author’s father survived an attempted beheading and the atom bomb. Searing look at the Asian war experience that draws comparisons with Empire of the Sun.
CEO, China: The Rise of Xi Jinping
Kerry Brown,
IB Tauris,
April 30
Under a crackdown on “corruption”, Chinese president Xi Jinping has had rivals imprisoned and built a formidable personal empire. This looks at the hidden story of arguably the world’s most powerful man.
Chronicles: On Our Troubled Times
Thomas Piketty,
Viking,
April
A collection of 700-word newspaper columns from Liberation, from the acclaimed author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. It looks at subjects such as UK productivity to Steve Jobs and Barack Obama.
Azanian Bridges
Nick Wood,
NewCon Press, April 11
Sibusiso Mchunu comes into a secret that could just threaten the entire repressive system of apartheid and offer a glimmer of hope for his people. Science fiction thriller set in an alternative South Africa where apartheid is still in effect.
The Cauliflower
Nicola Barker,
William Heinemann,
April 21
Sri Ramakrishna is a guru and spiritual master. But to his nephew, he is just “Uncle” – a maddening relative who is prone to entering trances at the most inconvenient of times. This book is a literary subversion of the historical novel featuring haikus, myths and questionnaires set in 19th century Calcutta.
The Gun Room
Georgina Harding, Bloomsbury, April 21
A young British photographer is sent to cover the Vietnam War. He snaps an image that becomes the defining shot of the war. But he is haunted by the conflict and drifts to Japan where he tries to forget all about it. However, his past soon catches up with him. Harding has been previously shortlisted for the Orange Prize.