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This late into 2020 we are all craving a) a holiday and b) time with friends. Our guest this week may cast a slightly different perspective on both.  

Rachel Harrison is the author of The Return, a novel that looks into the dark heart of friendship and asks “do you REALLY know who your friends are?” The book was published all the way back in March, by Berkley in the US and Hodder in the UK. I finally found time to catch up with Rachel and to tell her why this book scared me so badly.

Yep, this may be the single most unnerving novel I’ve read in 2020 (and that includes a couple of fictional pandemics in the middle of our real pandemic). The Return presents female friendship in all its complexity, compassion and cruelty. As you’ll hear, I didn’t always get on with the women in this book, but they left a lasting impression on me (and on Rachel). Plus, it prompts Rachel to tell me hew own personal ghost story. It’s a lot more benign than the one in her story. 

Come talk books with us on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, or email direct to [email protected].

Thanks to Terry Smith Audio for sound editing and Adrian Flounders for graphic design.

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