It’s our 250th episode! My how time flies when you’re enjoying phenomenal books. Since it’s a very special episode, we have a very special guest to celebrate with us - the one and only internationally bestselling Jojo Moyes! We couldn't be more thrilled to have Jojo join us with a wonderful reading from her new book, Someone Else’s Shoes. Sam and Nisha should never have crossed paths. But after a bag mix-up at the gym, their lives become intertwined - even as they spiral out of control. Nisha is...
Feb 08, 2023•15 min
We welcome national treasure Michael Rosen onto the podcast this week to share some beautiful, witty and thoughtful reflections from his new memoir, Getting Better. Exploring the roles that trauma and grief have played in his own life, Michael investigates the road to recovery, asking how we can find it within ourselves to live well again after - or even during - the darkest times of our lives. Moving and insightful, Getting Better is an essential companion for anyone who has loved and lost, or ...
Feb 01, 2023•20 min
We’re back with another episode of the podcast featuring the bestselling literary thriller, Mouth to Mouth, selected as a Best Book of the Year many times over by Vogue, Esquire and even Barack Obama. Alone on the beach, Jeff spots a drowning man in the rough surf. He rescues and resuscitates him, then quietly leaves when the emergency services take over. But Jeff can't let go of the events of that traumatic day. He begins to feel compelled to learn more about the man whose life he has saved but...
Jan 25, 2023•16 min
We’re back with our first episode of the new season and we’re starting off with a bang! Debut novel River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer is a deeply affecting work of historical fiction that will transport you to the slave plantations of Barbados in 1834. Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. These are the names of Rachel’s children sold to places across the Caribbean. Unable to wait for her freedom, she escapes the plantation and embarks on a mother's journey to find her l...
Jan 18, 2023•12 min
'Marple: Twelve New Stories' is a brand-new collection of original tales penned by some of the world’s bestselling female writers. Each story takes inspiration from Agatha Christie’s classic originals to feature a new mystery for Miss Marple to solve. As ever, she knows more than she appears to. Acclaimed authors Kate Mosse and Lucy Foley and sought-after bibliotherapist Ella Berthoud joined Damian Barr for a Special Salon at the British Library to celebrate the return of Marple and to discuss h...
Dec 15, 2022•1 hr 26 min
It’s our final Book of the Week episode of the season before we take a little break and return next year with more undiscovered gems. But before we go, we want to bring your attention to an incredibly powerful memoir by critically acclaimed author Gavin McCrea, entitled Cells: Memories for My Mother, The author of Mrs Engels and The Sisters Mao unspools an intimate story of feeling out of place in the insular suburb in which he grew up, the homophobic bullying he suffered at school, his brother’...
Nov 30, 2022•19 min
An eccentric tinkerer for a father and a cross-dressing woman who can read the language of clouds; The Weather Woman is spellbinding historical fiction with a love story at its heart. We’re delighted to welcome award-winning author Sally Gardner to the podcast for this reading from her immersive new novel. Sumptuous descriptions of Regency London meet captivating characters to produce a page-turning book you’ll want to add to your TBR. Published by Apollo, an imprint of Head of Zeus, The Weather...
Nov 22, 2022•19 min
We have not one but two bestselling authors joining us this week on the podcast, with readings from their new book Mad Honey. Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan have teamed up in a beautiful collaboration to produce a gripping novel that is at once a murder mystery and a court room drama, exploring questions around identity and gender. Some readers are calling it the book of the year and we’re here for it! Olivia fled her abusive marriage to return to her hometown and take over the family b...
Nov 16, 2022•24 min
Our Book of the Week is a whip smart and thoughtful memoir by Carrie Marshall. Carrie Kills A Man is about growing up in a world that doesn’t want you, and about how it feels to throw a hand grenade into what appears to everyone else to be a perfect middle-class life. It’s the story of how a tattooed transgender rock singer stopped being a depressed suburban dad and started being her authentic self. When more people think they’ve seen a ghost than met a trans person, it’s easy to believe misconc...
Nov 09, 2022•17 min
Our book of the week is a fantastic memoir packed full of wit, warmth and candour. The Marmalade Diaries follows 30-something Ben Aitken as he rents a room from formidable 85-year old Winnie at the start of the very first UK coronavirus lockdown. Their lives interweave, forming an unlikely friendship, where lessons were learnt (heat the red wine in the oven with the plates; preserve or pickle whatever you can; never throw anything away) and grief, both personal and that of a nation, was explored...
Nov 02, 2022•14 min
This week’s episode is a meditation on sexuality, mental health and abusive relationships. In this probing and intimate book that combines memoir with social history, Michael Handrick unpicks the narratives and societal expectations of what it means to be a man, working class and gay. Beautifully written and unflinchingly honest, Difference is Born on the Lips is published by Flint Books and available now. We recommend buying a copy from your local indie bookshop or you can visit our shop on Boo...
Oct 26, 2022•17 min
A psychologically dark and graphic novel haunted by the spectre of Francis Bacon. This week’s episode could not be any spookier. We’re welcoming Tade Thompson onto the show to read from his new novel Jackdaw. In the book, a psychiatrist hired to write a short piece on Francis Bacon becomes obsessed with the artist, his life, and the characters who surrounded him. ‘This metafictional memoir-cum-horror… [is a] darkly comic nightmare set on the borderlines of creativity, imagination and madness.’ G...
Oct 19, 2022•14 min
Relive this very special night of stories and poetry at our special Salon celebrating three of Scotland’s most exciting voices: Len Pennie, Courtney Stoddart and Alan Cumming! Len is a champion for Scots and isnae feart! Her poems have been enjoyed by millions online and she appeared with Damian in the BBC documentary In Search of Sir Walter Scott. Courtney is an acclaimed Scottish-Caribbean poet and performer. Her work focuses on racism, imperialism, womanhood and growing up in Scotland. Alan i...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 19 min
There’s nothing we like more than to highlight the exceptional talents of our queer literary community, so it’s our pleasure to bring you Am Not Raymond Wallace by debut author Sam Kenyon. Manhattan, 1963: Raymond lands in the New York Times newsroom on a three-month bursary from Cambridge University. To his surprise, he’s tasked with a journalistic investigation into the ‘explosion of overt homosexuality’ in the city. On an undercover assignment, a secret world is revealed to Raymond, one which...
Oct 05, 2022•15 min
Our Book of the Week is a dazzling debut novel you need to add to your TBRs. Brimming with compassion, One for Sorrow, Two for Joy by Marie-Claire Amuah is a sensitive portrayal of the consequences of domestic violence and a defiant story of friendship, resilience and hope. 'Intense and beautiful and heartbreaking' - Buki Papillon, author of An Ordinary Wonder One for Sorrow, Two for Joy is published by two-time Booker-winning indie press Oneworld and available now. We recommend buying a copy fr...
Sep 28, 2022•17 min
Our Book of the Week is by a debut author and an independent press - our favourite mash-up! New Skin for the Old Ceremony is a novel by Scottish-Indian author Arun Sood that tells the story of four estranged friends, reunited for a motorcycle trip up the Isle of Skye. They hope to reconcile how their lives have splintered since a transformative road trip in Northern India fourteen years earlier. It’s a novel about youth, the spectres of friendship, and colonial legacies spanning India and Scotla...
Sep 21, 2022•12 min
Our Book of the Week is an exceptional meditation on masculinity, male friendship and grief. Poet and author Michael Pedersen lost a cherished friend, Scott Hutchison, soon after their voyage across the Scottish Highlands. Just weeks later, Michael began to write to him. As he confronts the bewildering process of grief, what starts as a love letter to one magical, coruscating human soon becomes a paean to all the gorgeous male friendships that have transformed his life. 'As perfect a portrait of...
Sep 14, 2022•16 min
We’ve got a brilliantly evocative book for your listening pleasure on this week’s episode. The Foghorn Echoes is by Danny Ramadan, an award-winning Canadian-Syrian author and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. Danny’s new novel is about two gay men who find themselves in war-torn Damascus and an alienating Vancouver. It is a tragic love story about coping with traumatic experience, as Hussam and Wassim come to terms with the past and realise the secret that haunts them is not the only thing that bind...
Sep 07, 2022•14 min
We love to treat our listeners to the most sought after books and in a podcast world premiere we’re celebrating the launch of Maggie O’Farrell’s hotly anticipated, soon to be chart-smashing historical novel, The Marriage Portrait. That's right, this is the first podcast in the WORLD where you can hear an extract from the book! Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia th...
Aug 30, 2022•16 min
If you’re in the market for something a little unusual and totally brilliant then let us introduce you to Bobby Palmer’s wholly original debut novel Isaac and the Egg. A man who has lost everything finds a reason to keep going when he discovers a two-foot-tall egg of unknown origin in a forest. What unravels is a story of grief, friendship, humour and heart that will surpass your wildest eggs-pectations! 'A mad, sad, funny debut' PATRICK GALE Destined to be a word-of-mouth book of the year, you ...
Aug 23, 2022•14 min
Enjoy the world's first reading and interview with award-winning author Kit about her brand new book 'Without Warning And Only Sometimes', published this week! Kit is the award-winning and bestselling author of 'My Name Is Leon' and edited the pioneering collection 'Common People'. 'Without Warning & Only Sometimes: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood' is her story of growing up in a household of opposites and extremes. Her haphazard mother was a devout Jehovah’s Witness who believed the ...
Aug 19, 2022•44 min
One shipwreck. Two misfits. 300 years apart. The Night Ship is a feat of imagination from award-winning author Jess Kidd. We’re delighted to have her read on our podcast from her new novel, an accomplished work of fiction that takes place across dual timelines. In 1629, Mayken is aboard the Batavia which is doomed to crash on the shores of Beacon Island in Western Australia. Gil joins his grandfather on the very same island in 1989 where old rivalries remain unsettled. Their stories mirror one a...
Aug 10, 2022•13 min
Our book of the week is for anyone who’s ever felt that they were the “other.” After leaving Egypt when Sara was only six years old, her family slowly learns how to navigate the social dynamics of their new home. Her father refuses to buy his co-workers a ginger beer, thinking it contains alcohol. Her mother won’t wear a hijab, even if it would help them to connect with other local Muslims. And Sara learns that her parents are loving, but flawed in their own ways. Muddy People is a funny, heartw...
Aug 03, 2022•13 min
For anyone who loves a poignant, thoughtful, revealing and all round incredibly written memoir, Ali Millar’s The Last Days is a knock-out. It's 1982 and in the Kingdom Hall we are Jehovah's Witnesses. The state of the world shows us the end is close, and Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us. Ali is waiting for Armageddon. Her childhood revolves around regular meetings in the Kingdom Hall, where she is haunted by vivid images of the Second Coming, her mind populated by the bodies th...
Jul 27, 2022•14 min
Our latest episode is for all the It’s A Sin fans out there. That spectacular show won our hearts and was celebrated by the Literary Salon and almost a thousand of you at a virtual event starring its screenwriter/producer Russell T Davies. So now we’re absolutely thrilled to bring you a reading from 'the real life Jill'! Jill Nalder shares her new memoir - Love From the Pink Palace - which tells the true story of her and her friends' lives during the AIDS crisis. Jill juggled a busy West End car...
Jul 20, 2022•17 min
Our book of the week is by Australian author Sara Schmidt who was long listed for the Women's Prize for her book See What I Have Done. In her new novel, Blue Hour, Eleanor is fleeing her marriage in the wee hours with her daughter in the back seat of their car. Haunted by the voice of her mother and her parents' relationship defined by the second world war, this is a book shaped by conflict and motherhood. It’s poignant, thoughtful and will stay with you long after the final page. ‘One of the au...
Jul 13, 2022•15 min
We're back with a deliciously sharp-witted book to share with you. Rebecca Wait is best known for her gripping novel Our Fathers which was a Guardian Book of the Year. Now she shares a reading with us from her new bestseller in the making, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, about dysfunctional family dynamics between twin sisters Alice and Hanna and their mother Celia. For Alice and Hanna, saint and sinner, growing up is a trial. There is their mother, who takes a divide and conquer approach to child-...
Jul 05, 2022•15 min
Need a beach read? We’ve got you covered. Bolu Babalola’s Honey & Spice is just the summer romance you’ve been looking for. Kiki Banjo is an expert in relationship-evasion. She’s made it her mission to protect the women of Whitewell University from the dangers of players and heartbreak, supplying advice, tips and essentials to paying men no mind on her student radio show, Brown Sugar. But then Kiki meets a distressingly handsome newcomer who threatens to tear apart the community of women she...
Jun 28, 2022•12 min
Our book of the week is by Scottish debut author, Claire Alexander. Meredith, Alone is a poignant but optimistic novel about Meredith Maggs, a woman who hasn't left her house in 1,214 days. But she insists she isn't alone. She has her cat and her friend Sadie. There’s also her online support group, the Tesco delivery man and her treacherous memories to keep her company. But something's about to change. All that stands between Meredith and the world is her own front door… what will it take for he...
Jun 22, 2022•15 min
Listeners, prepare for a winding tale: a cascade of true stories by DBC Pierre in his new book Big Snake Little Snake. Written while on his way to make a short film with a parrot in Trinidad, the book examines the nature of gambling and aims to shed light on the invisible odds and outrageous chances of everyday life on Earth. This satisfyingly existential book is published by independent press, Cheerio, and available now in all good bookshops. ‘Pierre's writing is heady, reaching glorious height...
Jun 07, 2022•13 min
