Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

Bestselling author and Times columnist Ben Macintyre joins Simon and Matt to talk about his brilliant new book, Colditz: Prisoners Of The Castle. They discuss some of the incredible characters who frequented the prison, and the range of extraordinary escape plans which took place...and mainly failed. Here's the bumf: In a forbidding Gothic castle on a hilltop in the heart of Nazi Germany, an unlik...

Join Simon and Matt, and the two bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney-Boylan, for a quick fire Q&A! We also have a guest question from the novelist Joanne Harris. You can hear more about Jenny and Jodi's new novel, "Mad Honey", on our previous episode where we discuss it at length... About the book: Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—...

Bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan join Simon and Matt to discuss their brilliant new novel Mad Honey.    Told from alternative narratives, the book is a suspenseful, unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become our authentic selves.   The authors talk about the highs and lows of their colla...

Columnist and writer Marina Hyde answers some in-depth questions from Simon and Matt - as well as from listeners, and a surprise guest! No other writer is more suited to chronicling the absurd times in which we live. In What Just Happened?! Marina Hyde slashes her way through the hellscape of post-referendum politics, where the chaos never stops. From David Cameron to Theresa May to Boris Johnson....

Columnist and writer Marina Hyde joins Simon Mayo and Matt Williams to talk about the news, politics, her columns and...what the hell is going to happen next!? We're all trying to keep up with the news at the moment and it seems that every day, there's another crisis, resignation or flummoxed MP trying to change the narrative. In her latest book, Marina tries to make some sense of these turbulent...

The last book you really, really enjoyed? Which idea in a book do you wish you’d come up with?  Do you work best with deadlines? Which books stand out from your childhood? Short chapters v long chapters. Discuss! Favourite TV or film adaptation of a book? How many books do you read a month? If you could go back to university, what would you study? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Making his 3rd appearance on the pod, best selling author Anthony Horowitz chats about his latest novel. With occasional sound effects from his builders. Anthony has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day and With a Mind to Kill; the acclaimed bestselling mystery novels Magpie Murders and Moonf...

The last book you really, really enjoyed   Which idea in a book do you wish you’d come up?   Do you work best with deadlines?   Short Chapters v Long Chapters. Discuss!   Favourite TV or film adaptation of a book?   How many books do you read a month?   If you could go back to university, what would you study? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason. In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He'll stop at not...

One of the greatest authors of his generation answers questions about his favourite books and authors - including Lee Child, Michael Connelly, JK Rowling and Philip Pullman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Best selling author, multi award winning broadcaster and lifelong Torchy fan SIMON MAYO is interviewed by ITN's Tom Bradby about his new thriller Tick Tock. It starts quietly enough. A tick-tick-ticking you can hear in your ear. Tinnitus, you think. It will pass. But it doesn't. It gets worse - and then you pass it on. Before you know it, it spreads. Elsewhere across the globe, it emerges: small o...

Simon and Matt chat to Jonathan Freedland about his new book The Escape Artist. In April 1944 nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became the first Jews ever to break out of Auschwitz. Vrba's mission: to reveal to the world the truth of the Holocaust. In the death factory of Auschwitz, Vrba had become an eyewitness to almost every chilling stage of the Nazis' process of ind...

Mick Herron chats about some of his favourite books and authors which include Francis Spufford, John Steinbeck, Gorky Park and The Wind In The Willows Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2010, with Slow Horses, Mick Herron began a spy series, entitled Slough House, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. With the follow up Dead Lions, he won the Crime Writers' Association 2013 Gold Dagger award. It has recently been turned in to a series on Apple TV featuring Gary Oldman. Bad Actors is the latest in the series. Hosted on Acast. See ac...

Tom Bradby chats about some of his favourite authors including Len Deighton, Delia Owens, Thomas Harris and Simon Mayo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Bradby is a novelist, screenwriter and journalist. He has written nine previous novels, including top-ten bestselling Secret Service, and its two sequels, Double Agent and Triple Cross. As a broadcaster, he is best known as the current Anchor of ITV's News at Ten. He has been with ITN for thirty years and was successively Ireland Correspondent, Political Correspondent, Asia Correspondent (duri...

Claire Powell tackles our Q&A about the books she loved as a child, books that cheer her up and her favourite book shops. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'At the Table is a hugely intelligent, emotionally astute novel about family dynamics, and Claire Powell is an incredible new talent' Marian Keyes 'I hate the artwork on my kitchen wall' Matt Williams Set in 2018, Claire Powell's beautifully observed debut novel follows each member of the Maguire family over a tumultuous year of lunches, dinners and drinks, as old conflicts arise and relationships...

The host of Radio 4's flagship Today programme chats about some of his favourite books which include Landslide, Stig of the Dump, Light Perpetual and Knights of the Cardboard Castle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon and Matt chat to presenter and journalist Justin Webb. He has been a mainstay on BBC Radio 4's Today programme since 2009. His childhood was far from ordinary. Between his mother's un-diagnosed psychological problems, and his step-father's untreated ones, life at home was dysfunctional at best. But with gun-wielding school masters and sub-standard living conditions, Quaker boarding school wa...

Simon and Matt chat to debut author Jo Browning Wroe about the books and authors she loves...including John Irving, Joanna Glen, Susanna Clarke and Maggie O'Farrell. Plus tips on how to squeeze extra reading time in to your day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon and Matt chat to debut author Jo Browning Wroe. Her book, although beginning with a terrible real life tragedy, is an inspiring, uplifting read. Among other things, they chat about the embalming process, choral music and the cost of using famous lyrics in print. Tonight nineteen-year-old William Lavery is dressed for success, his first black-tie do. It's the Midlands Chapter of the Institute...

Ed recommends a variety of books including those by Hugh Ruttledge, Sam Knight, JB Priestley, Kingsley Amis and Cheeta! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ed tells the amazing story of Maurice Wilson, who planned to be the first person to scale Everest. His plan was to crash a plane in to it! What could possibly go wrong? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The multi million best selling author talks us through some of his favourite books and authors which include Joseph Knox, CS Lewis, Peter Caren and John Irving Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.