Episode 13

Joining Mariella in this week’s episode of The Book Show are Edna O’Brien who takes on Lord Byron; Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes with his latest fiction; and as Kate Winslet wins a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Revolutionary Road, Lionel Shriver talks about the genius of its author, Richard Yates.

To read first chapters of the books featured in The Book Show for free, visit Lovereading.co.uk for a taste of what’s coming up!

If you liked Edna O’Brien’s Byron In Love and you’re inspired to read further lyrical lives, here’s a couple to try:
Benjamin Markovits: A Quiet Adjustment
In A Quiet Adjustment novelist Benjamin Markovits has written a riveting fictionalised account of the triangular relationship between Byron, his idealistic young bride Annabella and Byron’s half sister Augusta. And as in another famous union, it gets a bit crowded with three in their marriage.

Richard Holmes: Shelley: The Pursuit
Shelley: The Pursuit is the seminal biography of another enigmatic and intriguing romantic poet. Like Byron, Shelley’s life was short, chaotic and fuelled by controversy and torturous romantic liaisons. Expelled from college, disowned by his aristocratic father and driven from England, Shelley embraced rebellion and disgrace without thought of the cost to himself or others. He was a radical agitator, atheist and devotee of free love, but he died aged 29. He was a brilliant, visionary poet, cut down in his prime.

If you liked Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road and are after more American classic novels of the 20th century, here are some more to explore:
John Updike: Couples
Couples takes an unsparing look at marriage in American suburbia. It caused a national sensation when published in 1968 for its savagely graphic portrayal of the complicated relationships among ten couples in Tarbox, New England. Well-to-do, sociable, articulated by dangerously unfulfilled, they play word games in the evening and adultery all year round.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: Tender Is The Night
Set in the late 1920s, Tender Is The Night finds stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver on the French Riviera. Handsome, rich and glamorous, their dinners are legendary, their presence magnetic. But all is not as it seems. Dick, a brilliant young psychiatrist, is both doctor and husband to Nicole. But her wealth has pushed him into a lifestyle not his own. As Nicole gradually overcomes her neuroses and gains some independence, Dick’s emotional demise begins.

If you liked Julian Fellowes’ Past Imperfect and would like to become even more au fait with the antics of the English aristocracy, then try these first class books:
Nancy Mitford: The Pursuit of Love
The Pursuit of Love is a warm and witty classic from the legendary Nancy Mitford. Abandoned by her mother, the narrator Fanny Logan is taken in by her aristocratic cousins. Mitford brilliantly chronicles the idiosyncrasies of the upper class – and don’t forget it’s a looking glass not mirror, and scent not perfume!

Edward St Aubyn: Some Hope
Some Hope is a collection of three semi-autobiographical novellas by Booker shortlisted author Edward St Aubyn. The stories follow the experiences of Patrick Melrose form Provence to New York to Gloucestershire, from childhood plagued by a tyrannical and snobbish father to a young adulthood fraught with drug addiction. As Patrick searches for redemption amidst a crowd of glittering social dragonflies their vapidity attracts his most stinging and memorable barbs.

Bedside Table with India Knight
This week we meet the queen of thrift, India Knight, and investigate what she keeps by her bedside table.

Fine Line
The ever-brilliant Tony Parsons shares his favourite line from a book by an author Tony describes as the Barry White of high culture!

Book Club
This week’s book club recommendation comes from The Broadway Books in London’s Hackney where Jane Howell recommends Rawi Hage’s DeNiro’s Game.

Write Place
We visit Penelope Lively’s delightful study where she penned her recent novel Consequences.

Guests’ literary heroes and heroines
Each week our guests reveal their literary heroes and heroines.  This week, Edna O’Brien, Lionel Shriver and Julian Fellowes explain which literary character they admire. But who have they chosen?