The Radio 2 Book Club

Laura Shepherd Robinson is the author of four crime novels, set in the Georgian era. In this episode, she tells Sara all about her latest book, 'The Art Of A Lie', a cat-n-mouse thriller that follows a widowed confectioner, drawn into a web of love, betrayal, intrigue and a battle of wits. They chat about her fascination with the 18th Century, the crime-writing community and how to make ice cream...

To celebrate Pride Month, we're putting the spotlight on some brilliant queer literature, courtesy of the Queer Girls Book Club. Ayse Huseyin joins Sara for a chat about their group and shares with us her Top Five Reads Of The Year so far. We also sent the book club a copy of 'Ordinary Saints' by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin (a previous choice of ours) and captured a little bit of their discussion. It turn...

Taylor Jenkins Reid (the author of 'Daisy Jones & The Six', 'Malibu Rising', 'The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo' and many more) joins Sara for a chat about her new book, 'Atmosphere'. They discuss space travel in the 1980s, how women were treated at that time in a very male dominated space, her inspirations for this story and her love of the night sky. We also get a snippet from the audiobook...

Author Beth Lewis joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to discuss her new historical novel, The Rush. Beth has set her latest book in the gold rush era in Canada, and has chosen to tell it from the point of view of female protagonists (rather than gnarled face old men we're used to hearing about) Sara chats about her fascination with this era, her research and why lots of women have been written ou...

Librarian Ros Harding tells Sara all about The Carnegies - the UK's longest running children's book awards. Ros is this year's Head Of Judges - and tells us why these awards are important for recognising writers and illustrators, and why encouraging children to read is so vital. She also shares her Top Five Reads Of The Year! Louisa Reid - 'Handle with Care' Sarah Crossan - 'Where the Heart Should...

V.E. Shwab returns to the Radio 2 Book Club to discuss her new novel, 'Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil' She has written and published 25 books in just 15 years (quite an achievement!) and was featured on the pod for her last novel - 'The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue' She talks to Sara about 'fantasy with a small f', reading outside your comfort zone, writing queer love stories and why she lik...

Luke Burton is one of our Superstar Librarians who helps choose our Radio 2 Book Club titles. He's now a big cheese at Arts Council England, and talks to Sara about the importance of libraries and...how he comes from a family of qualified librarians (so it really is in his blood!) He shares his Top Five Reads - and the books he's looking forward to reading this year. Here is his list: 'In the Blin...

Sara welcomes author Catherine Chidgey to the Radio 2 Book Club. They discuss her new novel, 'The Book Of Guilt', which is an eerie, dark, chilling story set in England, in the late 1970s (but a slightly different England to what we know now) Catherine talks about her inspirations, the things she does in the name of research (going on a rollercoaster even though she's terrified of them) and how sh...

Listener Reviewer, Stef Loughrey, shares the five books she has loved reading recently. She also tells Sara about her job as a TV producer, sharing books on Insta - and - which new novels she's looking forward to coming out this year... Here are her picks: Penance by Eliza Clark Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman The Most Fun We Ever Had b...

Our Book Club pick this week is 'The Correspondent' by Virginia Evans. She joins Sara down the line from the USofA to tell us all about the inspiration behind this novel, why she loves writing letters and how she once lost a draft of an entire book on her laptop! She also gives us some great book recommendations too! If you have read any of our choices recently, well we'd love to hear from you. Re...

Becki works for Barnsley Libraries, and is also a member of the Radio 2 Book Club panel, who help choose our book choices. She tells Sara which books have been flying off the shelves recently, shares her Top Five Reads of the year so far - and - reviews one of our previous Book Club choices ('The Favourites' by Layne Fargo) Remember, if you'd like to be one of our listener reviewers on a future ep...

Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin joins Sara in the Book Club to chat about her debut novel, 'Ordinary Saints'. She discusses her writing journey, the weaving of many different themes in one book and why ultra marathons and writing go hand in hand! Niamh also recommends us a book she has loved reading recently and confesses to leaving the first draft of her novel in a pub (which was, thankfully, retrieved) Book...

This week, listener reviewer Clare Kenney joins us, to share her Top Five Reads of 2025 so far...and tell us a little bit about the WI! Sara learns about Clare's book group, her happy reading place (a VW Camper no less) and why she loves Taylor Jenkins Reid so much. Here Top Five Reads are: Foster by Claire Keegan The Mad Women's Ball by Mas Victoria The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams The Silent...

This week’s book choice is a time-bending romance novel, which is bold and inventive and brilliant to read. If you were a fan of previous Book Club choices ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ‘ or ‘The Ministry Of Time’ – then we think you’ll love this too. It's called 'Who Wants To Live Forever' - and is the debut novel by Hana Thomas Uose. Sara chats about Hanna's inspirations, whether she WOULD...

Sara welcomes debut author Nussaibah Younis to the Book Club to discuss her debut novel, 'Fundamentally'. They discuss Nussaibah's previous life (advising top people in Washington DC on contemporary Iraq), why she felt it was important to write this book, and how she balanced humour with very serious issues. She also gives us a reading recommendation! Book Blurb here: Nadia is an academic who’s be...

This week on the pod we're recommending 'The Favourites' by Layne Fargo. Dubbed as "Wuthering Heights on ice", the book is a rip-roaring page-turner, set against the glitzy backdrop of competitive ice skating. Layne joins Sara down the line from Chicago to discuss the book, where the Wuthering Heights inspiration came from and why she gave it this unique twist. They also discuss the world of ice s...

To celebrate World Book Day, Sara is joined by actor, screenwriter and children's author Stephen Mangan. His new book, 'The Fart That Broke World Book Day', was written specifically for...well you guessed it...World Book Day, alongside books by Julia Donaldson, Bluey, Paddington and many more. We sent his book to a school in Sheffield, for our Junior Book Club reviewers - Noah, Lily, Ayla and Arth...

This week on the pod we welcome listener reviewer Rebecca Chalmers. She gives us her Top Five Reads of the year (and last year) so far - as well as a bit of Argentine Tango chat. Yes! Her choices are: 1. You are here - David Nicholls 2. The Women - Kristin Hannah 3. A Very Private School - Charles Spencer 4. Nesting - Roisin O’Donnell 5. Water - John Boyne Sara also asks her what she thought of ou...

Debut novelist and illustrator, Seth Insua, joins Sara for the Radio 2 Book Club to discuss his book "Human, Animal" He talks about his inspirations for the book, from growing up in rural England to the Brexit vote of 2016. They discuss his publishing journey and how, after many years of thinking about it, the book was written in such a short time. Seth is also an illustrator, but wasn't allowed a...

This week's episode is all about recommendations! Listener Harriet Thomas joins Sara to go through her Top Five Reads of the year (and last year) She picks: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. The Unseen by Roy Jackobson Shuggie Baine by Douglas Stewart A Fortnight In September by RC Sherriff Plus, we get her thoughts on our latest Radio 2 Book Club ch...

Our latest Radio 2 Book Club choice is 'Nesting' by Roisin O'Donnell. It is a beautiful but tense novel about hope and resilience, which contains themes of coercive control. Roisin has been wanting to write ever since she was really young, but only started taking her writing 'seriously' a few years ago. She worked on writing short stories to hone her craft, before sitting down to write her novel i...

Listener Fiona Buckland joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to give us some fab recommendations. Being a voracious reader, she has very broad taste - as her list shows! Her Top 5 Reads of the Year are: The Salt Flats by Rachelle Atella Weyward by Emilia Hart How We Named The Stars by Andres N Ordorica Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan Slum Boy by Juano Diaz She discusses these books in detail with Sara,...

Our latest Radio 2 Book Club choice is 'A Serial Killer's Guide To Marriage' by Asia Mackay. Asia was a runner up of the CWIP prize back in 2018, which gave her the confidence to write more - and that eventually led to her getting a publishing deal. Sara chats to Asia about her writing journey, why she is drawn to slightly dark subject matters and if she gets funny looks at the school gates. They...

Jeremy Vine, Angela Griffith, Dermot O'Leary, Mark Goodier, Shaun Keaveny and The Reverend Kate Botley share their favourite festive fiction with Sara. Maybe you'll discover a book for your own stocking!?

Marjan Kamali joins Sara from Boston USA to talk about her brilliant new novel, 'The Lion Women Of Tehran'. This book has been four years in the making and Marjan is thrilled to have it out in the world. It's a story of friendship, feminism, and political activism, set against three transformative decades in Tehran - and we think it's a cracking read! Marjan interviewed her Mum a lot for research,...