Our top six books this week: an emotional return to India and much more

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  The Third Reich in History and Memory by Richard J Evans. Fresh look at how our understanding of the Nazi regime has been transformed over the past few decades. In a series of essays, the acclaimed historian also examines how the Holocaust has come to be viewed not as an isolated incident but as a genocide with parallels elsewhere. (Little Brown, February 5)

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  Young Eliot by Robert Crawford. Arguably the 20th century’s most gifted poet, Eliot did not want a biography. But this work, on the 50th anniversary of his death, examines the unexplored early years and how they made the author of The Wasteland a “lightning conductor” for modernity. (Cape, February 5)

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  The Way Things Were by Aatish Taseer. Skanda must return his father’s body to India, a place he has sought to forget. There he is forced to confront his family’s own history, whose troubles and toxic legacies he has always sought to avoid. Sweeping novel set in Delhi but looking back over 40 years. (Picador, February 12)

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  A Killing Winter by Tom Callaghan. It’s not every day a crime thriller is set in Kyrgyzstan. A woman is brutally murdered; her father turns out to be a government minister. More bodies are found and we are drawn into the capital, Bishkek, a dark world where it seems violence is the only solution. (Quercus, February 26)

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  The Longest Fight by Emily Bullock. The boxing scene in 1950s London is gritty and violent. For a down-on-his-luck manager, it’s often a grim world but the only one he has ever known. But when Jack Munday spots a young fighter with talent, it’s a chance to escape the tragedies of the past. (Myriad Editions, February 12)

Here’s a look at what books we’re reading this week.