A Pair of Bookends

Happy new year Bookends! Our first Book Club episode of the year is dedicated to The Knowing by friend of the pod Emma Hinds, it was only right that we brought Emma back to chat all about her debut novel, how she kept going in the face of rejections, why it's important to represent disabled characters in the way she did, the feminist issues she feels particularly passionate about writing and so much more.
If you enjoy this episode please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you and if you'd like to give us a follow on socials or contact us, you can do so here: Get in touch!

Buy Tickets for 'The Knowing' Book Launch @ Queer Lit, Manchester
To buy 'The Knowing': https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-knowing-emma-hinds/7565411?ean=9781915798138
To follow Emma: Instagram & Twitter
To follow Mya (Illustrator of The Knowing): Instagram

Books & Authors discussed on this episode:
Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
The Wager by David Grann
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë


The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Sarah Waters
Pat Barker
Kirsty Logan
Julia Armfield
The Matrix by Lauren Groff
Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca


Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami/ Translation by Allison Markin Powell


Morgan is my name by Sophie Keetch
Circe by Madeline Miller
Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight


A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing by Hilary Mantel

Thank you so much for listening! Until next time, happy reading! Han & Lyd x

Merry Christmas Bookends! What a gorgeous way to end 2023 with our finale - the Christmas special of dreams with the brilliant Saphire from Book Bodega! As always if you enjoy this episode please do rate, review & subscribe as it massively helps us to reach more of you.

We chat through our top books of the year, what 2024 books should be on your pre-order lists and the bookish ghosts of our past, present and future, all of this and more in today's episode...

To get the full list of the books spoken about in today's episode please visit: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/a-pair-of-bookends-guest-episode

Follow Book Bodega: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/bookbodega, https://www.instagram.com/bookbodega/?hl=en

Listen to Novel Thoughts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/novel-thoughts/id1721722638

To follow us: https://linktr.ee/apairofbookendspod

Thanks so much for listening, for reasons beyond our control Lydia was unable to record the Christmas special but we both wish you a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year, we'll see you for more in 2024 but until then, happy reading! Han & Lyd x

Welcome back Bookends to a very exciting episode in collaboration with the 2023 Polari Prize. For today's episode Hannah was joined by writer Julia Armfield to discuss her award-winning debut novel 'Our Wives Under The Sea' which our OG Bookends will remember was our second ever Book Club pick! To read more about this year's Polari Prize: https://www.polarisalon.com/copy-of-polari-prize-1

Aswell as discussing her Polari prize win, we chat about the ways in which Julia has been inspired by Stephen King, the parallels she has found between horror and romance and how a place in her novel represents the horror of bureaucracy!
In today's episode we also feature some questions from some of our wonderful listeners who you can follow below:
Emma Hinds (author of The Knowing, out Jan 2024) - https://www.instagram.com/elphreads
Meg (Book Blogger- https://www.instagram.com/meg.in.a.book/?hl=en-gb)
Georgia (Book Blogger- https://www.instagram.com/georgiadoesbooks/)
Alice (Book Blogger- https://www.instagram.com/mostardentlyalice/?hl=en)

To buy Our Wives Under The Sea: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/our-wives-under-the-sea-julia-armfield/6454886?ean=9781529017250
To pre-order Private Rites: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/private-rites-julia-armfield/7593552?ean=9780008608033
To follow Julia: https://www.instagram.com/juliakarmfield/

Books/ Authors/ Other media discussed:
K2: Triumph and Tragedy by Jim Curran
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Stand by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
Misery by Stephen King
Danse Macabre by Stephen King
Sarah Waters
Portrait of a lady on fire - Netflix
My Summer of Love by Helen Cross
Sugar Rush - Channel 4
Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

If you enjoy this episode, please do rate, review & subscribe as it helps to boost us in the charts! You can follow us @apairofbookendspod on instagram and @apairofbookends on Twitter and Tik Tok. Thanks so much for listening, until next time, happy reading! x

Welcome Bookends to our December Bonus Books Special with the brilliant author & journalist Sarra Manning. Here to chat about her latest novel 'The Man Of Her Dreams', we deep-dive into all things rom-com, what makes them good, what makes them bad and what is it like to write the sex scenes? Aswell as this, Hannah invites Sarra into a festive quick-fire round where we find out what Sarra really thinks of Richard Curtis films, what her favourite festive read is and which Pride and Prejudice adaptation she thinks is best. All of this and more in today's ep!

To buy The Man of Her Dreams: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-man-of-her-dreams-the-brilliant-new-rom-com-from-the-author-of-london-with-love-sarra-manning/7438105?ean=9781399707831

To follow Sarra: https://www.instagram.com/sarra_manning/?hl=en

To follow us or drop us an email: https://linktr.ee/apairofbookendspod

As always, if you enjoy this episode please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you!

Books & Other mentions:

The Painter's Daughters by Emily Howes
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray
Under Your Spell by Laura Wood
I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Love Actually - Now TV
The Holiday - Netflix
Pride and Prejudice (1995) - BBC Iplayer

Thanks so much for listening, until next time, happy reading! Han & Lyd x

Welcome Bookends, it's been a while! We've got a fabulous November Bonus Books special for you today and as Hannah is already feeling festive, we've got something festive up our sleeves (yes that includes gifts)! Hannah was joined by author B.K Borison to discuss her romance series 'Lovelight Farms' which is out now and published by Pan Macmillan.
In line with the release of this episode, Pan Macmillan have very kindly offered to send one of our lucky listeners the full series, head to our socials to find out how you can win! https://linktr.ee/apairofbookendspod

It was a joy to be joined by B.K Borison- we discuss why her book is compared to Gilmore Girls, how social media has enhanced her author experience, those steamy sex scenes and so much more, we really hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

To buy 'Lovelight Farms': https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/lovelight-farms-the-feel-good-friends-to-lovers-romcom-sensation-b-k-borison/7413673?ean=9781035028856

To follow B.K Borison: https://www.instagram.com/authorbkborison/?hl=en

Books & Authors mentioned:
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
A Risk Worth Taking by Jessica Joyce
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Kennedy Ryan
Emily Henry
Ali Hazelwood
The Mistletoe Motive by Chloe Liese
Wreck The Halls by Tessa Bailey
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Please do rate, review & subscribe if you enjoyed this episode so we can reach more of you! Thank you so much for listening, happy reading x

Welcome Bookends to an incredibly special episode in collaboration with the 2023 Forward Prizes for Poetry. For this episode, Hannah was joined by winner of Best Collection, Jason Allen-Paisant.

We talk about his experience of winning the prize, the inspiration behind his award-winning collection, how he felt connected to Shakespeare's Othello and so much more. It was a really interesting and thought-provoking conversation and such an honour to hear Jason read his work aloud, we hope you enjoy!

To buy Jason's collection 'Self-Portrait as Othello': https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/self-portrait-as-othello-jason-allen-paisant/7398755?ean=9781800173101

To buy his previous collection 'Thinking with Trees': https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/thinking-with-trees-jason-allen-paisant/5070456?ean=9781800171138

To pre-order his upcoming book 'Engagements with Aimé Césaire': https://global.oup.com/academic/product/engagements-with-aim-csaire-9780192867223?cc=gb&lang=en&

To follow Jason & his work: https://www.instagram.com/jallenpaisant/, https://www.jasonallenpaisant.com/

Books discussed:
Bad Diaspora Poems by Momtaza Mehri
A Change in the Air by Jane Clarke
Never Was by H. Gareth Gavin

If you enjoyed this episode please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you! You can follow us @apairofbookendspod on Instagram and @apairofbookends on Twitter & Tik Tok, or get in touch with us via email [email protected]
Thanks so much for listening, until next time, happy reading! x

Welcome back Bookends! We are back with the first episode in our THIRD season of Debut Spotlight - where we bring you the freshest debut authors and their work.
For this episode we were joined by author and curator Celina Baljeet Basra, to discuss her upcoming novel 'Happy'.
We talk about the inspiration for her young, ambitious protagonist, the importance of sharing stories of migrant workers & their working conditions, the unusual structure of her novel and the space she curates for herself to write in, amongst much more!
We hope you enjoy this episode, please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you.

To pre-order 'Happy' (UK listeners): https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/happy-celina-baljeet-basra/7357029?ean=9781035405886

To follow Celina: https://www.instagram.com/celinabasra/?hl=en

If you wish to follow us, you can do so @apairofbookendspod on Instagram and @apairofbookends on Twitter and Tik Tok.

Books & other recommendations discussed:
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk


Do You Remember Being Born?: A Novel by Sean Michaels
Delhi-6 (Movie)
Masakali by Mohit Chauhan (song from Delhi-6)
Uski Roti (Movie)
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/17312 - Dough by Video Artist Mika Rottenberg

Do get in touch with us with any of your own recommendations, we love hearing them! [email protected]

Welcome back Bookends to another Book Club episode, for October we chose Land of Milk and Honey, the second novel from Booker Prize long-listed author C.Pam Zhang. For this episode we were thrilled to be joined by the author herself to chat all about the world of her novel. Our conversation covered food, class, climate change, family and how lots of these things play into one another, it was such a thought-provoking conversation & we can't wait to hear what you think!
As always, please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you.

To get in touch please do email us at [email protected] or you can follow us @apairofbookendspod on Instagram and @apairofbookends on Twitter and Tik Tok!

Books & other recommendations discussed:
I'm a fan by Sheena Patel
Pilgrim Bell: Poems by Kaveh Akbar
Home Body by Rupi Kaur
C.Pam Zhang for Esquire on grief & her Grandmother's cooking: https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a45123237/c-pam-zhang-taste-of-her-care/
Women Talking - Amazon Prime
Mobility: A Novel by Lydia Kiesling
Smoking Goat (Restaurant, Shoreditch)
Ahsoka (Disney +)

To buy Land of Milk and Honey: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/land-of-milk-and-honey-c-pam-zhang/7419911?ean=9781529153668
To follow Pam: https://www.instagram.com/cpamzhang/?hl=en-gb

Thank you so much for listening! Until next time, happy reading! Han & Lyd x

Welcome Bookends to our October Bonus episode where Hannah was joined by the international best-selling author Victoria Hislop to chat all about her latest novel 'The Figurine'

Unfortunately Lydia was ill for this episode but Hannah had a wonderful conversation with Victoria about her passion for Greek culture, her immersive research process, the ways in which Emily Brontë influences her writing and so much more. As always if you enjoyed this episode, please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you!

To buy Victoria's book: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-figurine-the-brand-new-novel-from-the-no-1-sunday-times-bestselling-author-of-the-island-victoria-hislop/7498481?ean=9781472263933

To follow Victoria and her work: https://www.victoriahislop.com/
https://www.instagram.com/vichislop/?hl=en-gb

To follow/contact us:
https://linktr.ee/apairofbookendspod

Books & other recs discussed:
Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Oppenheimer
Boiling Point - BBC Iplayer

Thanks so much for listening, until next time- happy reading! Han & Lyd x

Welcome back Bookends to the finale of Season 2 of our Debut Spotlight series, where we shine the spotlight on the freshest authors and their work! For this episode we were joined by the brilliant Australian author of 'Sad Girl Novel', Pip Finkemeyer. We discuss why we love a sad girl novel, the beauty and intensity of female friendship, her positive debut publishing experience and so much more! We hope you enjoy this conversation and as always, please do rate, review & subscribe so we can reach more of you.

To follow us:
https://linktr.ee/apairofbookendspod

To buy Pip's book: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/sad-girl-novel-pip-finkemeyer/7438218?ean=9781399723534

To follow Pip and her work:
https://www.instagram.com/pipfink/

Books & other recs discussed in this ep:
Body Friend by Katherine Brabon
Shameless Podcast
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Breaking Bad - Netflix
Girls - Now TV
Only Murders In The Building - Disney +
The Modern by Anna Kate Blair









The diaries of Helen Garner

Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, happy reading! Han & Lyd x