Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, Joe Hill, joins Sara to chat about his epic new novel 'King Sorrow'. This book has been 10 years in the making and, as Joe explains, is the first novel he published after getting married to his wife - so wanted to impress her. Sara and Joe chat about his inspirations behind the book, how his family (all of whom are writers) share their work with each other, and why he has now chosen to write a book a year. (no more 900 pages for a while!) We also get to hear a clip from the audiobook, and a book recommendation too. Here's a little more info on Joe's novel:
Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.
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17:53
'The Eleventh Hour' by Salman Rushdie
Sara welcomes Sir Salman Rushdie to the Radio 2 Book Club to talk about his new collection of stories. 'The Eleventh Hour' consists of five stories, some short stories and some novellas. Salman talks about his inspiration behind the work, including why he wanted to return to the world of 'Midnight's Children' - and regales us with some great stories - including the time he met E M Forster at university and ended up playing croquet with him! Here's a little more info on Salman's new book:
Two quarrelsome old men in Chennai, India, experience private tragedy against the backdrop of national calamity. Revisiting the Bombay neighbourhood of Midnight's Children, a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire. In an English university college, an undead academic asks a lonely student to avenge his former tormentor.These five dazzling works of fiction move between the three countries that Salman Rushdie has called home – India, England and America – and explore what it means to approach the eleventh hour of life. They are the reckoning with mortality that we all must one day make, and speak deeply to what the author has come from and through.Do we accommodate ourselves to death, or rail against it? How can we bid farewell to the places that we have made home? How do we achieve fulfilment with our lives if we don't know the end of our own stories? The Eleventh Hour ponders life and death, legacy and identity with the penetrating insight and boundless imagination that have made Salman Rushdie one of the most celebrated writers of our time.
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17:05
Halloween Special
Whether you're into the Halloween thing or not - we thought it was as good a time as any to celebrate some spooky, scary, dark, ghostly, chilling books which have recently come out - and - get some cracking recommendations. Sara has invited six brilliant authors - who write in the horror genre - to tell us about their latest novels and their favourite scary book.LISTEN IF YOU DARE MWAAAHAHAHA*
(*they're all very nice really) Here are our featured authors - and - the books discussed:Gemma Amor - 'Itch'
Daphne Du Maurier - 'The Birds And Other Stories'Tobi Coventry - 'He's The Devil'
Algernon Blackwood - 'The Willows"Bora Chung - 'The Midnight Timetable'
Stephen King - 'Thinner'Andrew Michael Hurley - 'Saltwash'
Mariana Enriquez - 'Things We Lost In The Fire'Oyinkan Braithwaite - 'Cursed Daughters'
Vikram Paralkar - 'Night Theatre'Thomas Olde Heuvelt - 'Darker Days'
Stephen King - "Pet Sematary'
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20:45
'The Murder At World's End' by Ross Montgomery
As the nights draw in, it's the perfect time for some cosy crime - and our latest book choice will fit the bill. The Murder At World's End has been described as Downton Abbey meet Knives Out, and is the debut adult novel from bestselling children's author Ross Montgomery. Sara chats to Ross about his fascination with the Victorians, plotting a murder mystery and how he managed to get Sir Derek Jacobi to read his audiobook. We also get a sneak preview of said audiobook, and Ross gives us a top book recommendation as well! Here's the blurb for 'The Murder At World's End'
Cornwall, 1910. On a remote tidal island, the Viscount of Tithe Hall is absorbed in feverish preparations for the apocalypse that he believes will accompany the passing of Halley's Comet. The Hall must be sealed from top to bottom - every window, chimney and keyhole closed off before night falls. But what the pompous, dishonest Viscount has failed to take into account is the danger that lies within... By morning, he will be dead in his sealed study, murdered by his own ancestral crossbow.All eyes turn to Stephen Pike, Tithe Hall's newest under-butler. Fresh out of Borstal for a crime he didn't commit, he is the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His unlikely ally? Miss Decima Stockingham, the foul-mouthed, sharp as a tack, 80-year-old family matriarch. Fearless and unconventional, she relishes chaos and puzzles alike, and a murder is just the thrill she's been waiting for.Together, this mismatched duo must navigate secret passages, buried grudges and rising terror to unmask the killer before it's too late...
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12:38
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12:38
Superstar librarian Kelly Greenwood picks her Top Five Reads Of The Year
Superstar librarian Kelly Greenwood joins Sara for a natter about working in libraries and being a children's book specialist. She gives us her Top Five Reads Of The Year (so far) and also talks about being on our Book Club panel. Her picks are: Roar by Manjeet Mann
You Could Be So Pretty by Holly Bourne,
24 Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Homebody by Theo Parish
The Radio 2 Book club celebrates the best in new fiction and recommends great reads. Sara will be interviewing top authors about their latest novels, and she’ll be catching up with librarians and reading groups from across the UK. Whether you’re after a summer blockbuster, a twist-filled thriller, or want to curl up with a heart-warming love story, Sara has you covered!
UK