Take Four Books

The acclaimed Irish writer Andrew Meehan talks about his novel Hey Man and explores its link to three other works with presenter James Crawford. Hey Man tells the story of a unique, challenging and beautiful friendship between Ian and Tommy as they navigate three chapters of their lives, from a care-free summer in London to the ritual and peace a Benedictine monastery. For his three influences, An...

The best-selling American author John Grisham speaks to Take Four Books about his latest novel, The French Illusion, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works. The French Illusion begins with Paul and Chelsea Tanner’s fairytale wedding. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French c...

The award-winning Jamaican novelist Marlon James on his Booker-shortlisted novel The Disappearers, as he and presenter James Crawford explore its connections to three other books. The Disappearers starts with eight men in Jamaica in 1988 meeting in private to rehearse a play. The group are attacked by a violent mob, and for the survivors, recovery is as much emotional as it is physical. Through th...

The award-winning writer Louise Kennedy speaks to Radio 4's Take Four Books about her latest novel, Stations, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other literary works. Stations follows Róisín McCaffrey as she meets and Red Camelin as a teenager in their small Irish hometown in 1982. Red's reputation for trouble precedes him – but Róisín finds herself...

The award-winning Irish writer, Donal Ryan, speaks about his latest novel, Where Are The Kings, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other books. Set in rural Ireland, Where Are The Kings, follows the character of Jack between the ages of twelve and fourteen as he attempts to deal with his mother's sudden death for which he feels a measure of guilt. Do...

The award-winning Irish writer Sebastian Barry speaks to Take Four Books about his latest novel, The Newer World, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other books. The Newer World takes us back into post-civil war America as we follow the character of Tennyson Bouguereau, a formerly enslaved man, and nascent singer as it turns out, who is forced to lea...

The New York writer and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Colson Whitehead, speaks to Take Four Books about his latest novel, Cool Machine, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other books. In three interlinking stories, Cool Machine - the final instalment in Colson's Harlem Trilogy - showcases the grit and grandeur of 1980s New York t...

Presenter James Crawford speaks to award-winning Mexican American novelist and essayist Valeria Luiselli about her latest novel, Beginning Middle End, and its three key literary influences. In the novel, a mother and her twelve-year-old daughter travel across a wildfire-stricken Sicily in search of family history, archaeology, and the inner-workings of story itself. Along the way, the mother remai...

The writer M. John Harrison speaks to Take Four Books about his latest novel, The End of Everything, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works. The End of Everything follows the characters of Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie. A crisis has happened. The exact nature of which remains obscure, but government barely functions, the seas ar...

Presenter James Crawford speaks to American author and humourist David Sedaris on his new collection of essays, The Land and Its People. From navigating the realities of ageing to reflecting on his personal relationships, Sedaris explores a wide range of experiences across the book's 28 essays. He also discusses the three works that inspired the collection: Raymond Carver's Cathedral (1981), Joy W...

Scottish crime writer Christopher Brookmyre speaks to Take Four Books this week about his latest novel, Quite Ugly One Evening, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its links to three other books. Chris's new book, Quite Ugly One Evening, is a locked-room mystery with a twist, and we're back with one of his most beloved characters - the maverick Scottish investigative journali...

The award-winning Irish writer, Liz Nugent, speaks to Take Four Books about her latest novel, The Truth About Ruby Cooper, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works of fiction. Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that cause...

Presenter James Crawford speaks to award‑winning American author Elizabeth Strout - winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a two‑time Booker Prize nominee - about her new book The Things We Never Say and its three key literary influences. In Elizabeth's latest novel, we are taken to the New England coast, where we follow the life of history teacher Artie Dam, who is struggling to cope w...

The Bangladeshi-born British writer, Tahmima Anam, speaks to Take Four Books about her latest novel, Uprising, and together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works of fiction. Set on a fictional, sinking island, Uprising, is told from the perspective of a group of children who witness their mothers living lives of cruelty and servitude. Tahmima Anam is a mu...

The bestselling author of Hamnet returns with her tenth novel - Land - which is a soaring history set in Ireland in the years before and after the Great Famine. Maggie has sold more than eight million books worldwide and is translated into 44 different languages. She won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020. For her three influences Maggie chose: Joseph O’Connor’s Star of the Sea from 2002; Marie...

The Booker Prize-winning Scottish author, Douglas Stuart, speaks to Take Four Books about his latest novel, John Of John, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works of fiction. John Of John follows the character of John-Calum Macleod who, when his art school education comes to an end, catches the ferry home to the island of Harris to find that no...

Imani Thompson speaks to Take Four Books about her debut novel Honey. Together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other literary works. In Honey, PhD student Yrsa doesn't set out to kill. But after an incident involving a bee sting gone wrong, she suddenly feels alive. So she starts to think about what justice could look like, if she took it in to her own hands......

The award-winning writer Deborah Levy speaks to Take Four Books about her latest novel, My Year In Paris With Gertrude Stein, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its three key literary influences. The new book follows three female friends in Paris. There's Eva an artist in a long-distance marriage, Fanny, a sexually adventurous financier, and making up the trio, is our unname...

The American writer Katie Kitamura speaks about her Booker-shortlisted novel, Audition, and together with presenter James Crawford they explore its connections to three other literary works. Audition begins with two people meeting for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. The woman is an accomplished actress and she's meeting a man who is young enough to be her son. But who is he to her, and who is she...

Presenter James Crawford speaks to award-winning novelist Amitav Ghosh about his new book, Ghost Eye, and its three key literary influences. Ghost Eye is told through the memories and recollections of its narrator, Dinu, who grew up in Calcutta and now lives in New York. Set during the COVID pandemic, the story unfolds as Dinu recalls a story his Auntie Shoma once told him - one that takes place i...

The award-winning English writer Gwendoline Riley speaks to Take Four Books, about her new novel The Palm House, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its three influences. The Palm House follows the friendship between Laura Miller and Edmund Putnam, known as ‘Putnam’, who both work in the London media landscape in 2017. Over the course of a long weekend, they meet several time...

Presented by James Crawford Take Four Books speaks to the writer Solvej Balle from her home on an island off the coast of Denmark about her latest instalment of the 'On the Calculation of Volume' series. The novels tell the story of Tara Selter, an antiquarian bookseller who wakes up one morning to find she is endlessly reliving the same day: the 18th of November. Solvej's influences for this epis...

Scottish novelist and poet Jenni Fagan tells presenter James Crawford about her new novel, The Delusions, in which she takes readers to the afterlife - or, at least, to its entry portal. It is a place where the newly dead are required to queue up and account for the truth of their lives - and extract all their delusions - if they are to have any chance of passing into eternity. Jenni’s three chose...

The much-loved Canadian writer and former Booker Prize winner, Yann Martel, speaks to Take Four Books this week about his new novel, and first for a decade - Son Of Nobody - and together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other literary works. The book follows a classical scholar, Harlow Donne, as he gets a chance to study at Oxford and uncovers a lost account of...

Northern Irish writer and multi‑award‑winning novelist Jan Carson talks to James Crawford about her new book and the three key influences that shaped it. Her latest novel, Few and Far Between, transports readers to an alternative Northern Ireland, where the country’s great inland loch is partially drained in the 1960s, leaving behind a chain of islands that become a refuge for those seeking to esc...