Kate and Cassie discuss Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart’s new novel about a ten-year-old Korean-American girl growing up in a dystopian United States. Alongside guest critics, they also look at The Bombshell by Darrow Farr, which traces the radicalisation of a young French woman in Corsica, and The Slip by Lucas Schaefer, the story of a missing teenage boy and the transformative power of boxing.

Books:

Darrow Farr, The Bombshell, Atlantic

Lucas Schaefer, The Slip, Simon & Schuster

Gary Shteyngart, Vera, or Faith, Atlantic 

GUESTS

Sarah Gilbert, writer and documentary producer; head of UTS Impact Studios, which makes the literary podcast Fully Lit. Her first book of non-fiction - Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia - came out last year

Michael Winkler, critic and novelist. His book, Grimmish, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2022. His novel Griefdogg will be published next year 

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

• Brian Castro, Chinese Postman
• Michelle de Krestser, works
• Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
• Denis Johnson, Train Dreams
• Carys Davies, West
• Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
• Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
• Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend
• O. Henry, The Last Leaf
• Loïc Wacquant, Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer
• Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City series
• Rhett Davis, Arborescence
• Raaza Jamshed, What Kept You
• Alexis Wright, Carpentaria

CREDITS

• Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
• Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan Nicholls
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown