Our top six books this week: Lynsey Addario’s account of being a journalist kidnapped by pro-Qaddafi forces and more

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  Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. The sinking of the luxury British liner the Lusitania by a German U-boat in May 1915 caused the loss of 1,200 lives and hastened the United States’ entry into the First World War. Larson transforms the bare facts into a story of love, loss and betrayal. (Doubleday, March 12)

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  The Village Effect by Susan Pinker. A developmental psychologist, Pinker looks at the importance of close human relationships to learning, happiness and long life. Challenging social media as an ineffective stand-in for face-to-face contact, she takes proofs from science and personal experience. (Atlantic, March 5)

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  All Days Are Night by Peter Stamm. A finalist for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize, the Swiss writer tells the story of a famous television personality, disfigured and widowed in a car accident, as she tries to rebuild her life. Stamm plays with notions of identity and artifice in his (translated) pared-down prose. (Granta, March 5)

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  The Faithful Couple by A D Miller. Miller’s story begins in California in 1993 with a growing friendship between two young English tourists. The two men outdo each other in boorishness until an incident sends them packing back to their real lives. Over the years the incident casts a long shadow between them. (Little, Brown, March 5)

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  Aquarium by David Vann. A 12-year-old girl passes the time waiting for her mother to finish work, hanging out at a local aquarium in Seattle. There she makes a secret friendship with an older man and unleashes dark and damaging behaviour in her mother. A difficult read for many critics. (W Heinemann, March 5)

Take a look at the top six books we’re reading this week.