Author's Afterword

Charlie and Tasneem Abdur-Rashid (Finding Mr Perfectly Fine) discuss writing a story that hadn't yet been told in novels and working with getting the balance and choices right when it came to writing for Bengali Muslims, Muslims from other cultures, and other readers. We also discuss the guys she cut from the first draft, why she decided to finish her rom-com on the somewhat controversial note she did, oh and if you're looking for a great Turkish restaurant in North London, we've got you covered.

Please note that there is swearing and discussion of rape in this episode.

Not Another Mum Pod ('Was My Husband Gay?' is episode 6) Tasneem's 'he's a 10 but...' TikTok video Capital Restaurant, Wood Green Hala, Green Lanes Gokyuzu Antepliler Tasneem's Instagram

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Discussions

01:44 The inspiration for Finding Mr Perfectly Fine 04:33 About Zara, Adam, and Hamza 08:48 How Tasneem wrote and planned the book, and balancing the different audiences she was writing for 13:30 Wherein Tasneem's dad bought her a computer for writing on when she was 10 years old 17:17 Deleted sections of the book - Zara met a lot more people! 20:16 Writing from a specific Muslim perspective (British Bengali) and pushback; also the Sylheti dialect 24:12 On the part where Yasmin wears hijab to cover her beauty when chaperoning Zara on a meet up 27:04 Hamza and Zara's lack of thinking about how controlling he is whereas others can see it 31:47 The Tariq plotline and backstory 33:26 Adam and Zara's mismatched values and working them out, Hamza, and the decisions Tasneem made for the ending 42:02 What happens beyond the ending pages 43:17 The possibility of a book about Amina 44:03 Further info about Tasneem's next book 47:31 On North London Turkish restaurants 49:47 On Tasneem's podcast, Not Another Mum Pod

Charlie Place and Amanda Geard (The Moon Gate) discuss Tasmania in WW2 and in general, Australia's famed poet Banjo Paterson and his fellow Bush Ballad writers, British Blackshirts and the Mitfords, and the Moorgate Tube Crash in London. On a lighter note, Amanda also tells us much about the writing of her book, including a lot of what she left out in order to reduce her book from the lengthy draft it was to the mere 500 hardback pages it is.

Amanda was the guest in episode 63 in which we spoke about The Midnight House Waltzing Matilda The Man From Snowy River The Mitfords - Letters Between Six Sisters The Moorgate Tube Crash I spoke to Kate Thompson about the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster in episode 76 Penghana

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Discussions

01:50 The inspiration - Banjo Paterson's Bush ballads and mining in Tasmania 03:17 Keeping up with all the characters and planning the timelines 08:43 How there is so much of Amanda in this book 10:51 Mining on the West Coast of Tasmania, and Amanda's dad 13:41 Banjo Paterson and Australian poetry 17:49 Tasmania in WW2, including Prime Minister Robert Menzies 26:01 Women Blackshirts in Britain (including Diana Mitford) and the awfulness of Edeline 30:47 The Moon Gate's lengthy first draft 33:12 Moon Gates and rebirth 35:45 The focus on grief 37:23 Including the Moorgate Tube Crash 40:44 Amanda's Balinn returns! 42:45 The epilogue and what was left out 44:45 Rose and what might have been 47:20 The House of the book, Towerhurst and Australia's Federation houses, and huon pine trees 52:46 What Amanda found when renovating an old Irish house 55:07 More on Amanda's current manuscript, a story looking at occupied Norway

Charlie and Alex Hay (The Housekeepers) discuss his meticulously planned and fast-paced 1900s heist novel wherein the entire contents of a grand house are to be removed... and the mistress of the place is in on it. Alex tells us about the successful collaboration between himself and his three editors and we discuss the various comedy aspects of the book.

Sadie Jones' The Uninvited Guests Julia Laite's The Disappearance Of Lydia Harvey Alex's conversation with Sarah Penner for Always Authors

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Discussions

01:25 The inspiration for The Housekeepers 06:14 Alex's extensive planning of the book and some of the changes made 10:01 Mrs Bone, Danny/Mr de Vries, and the O'Flynn family 12:54 The many narratives and including Miss de Vries in her own narrative as an 'equal' 17:20 The comedy! 21:33 The trafficking plot line 24:37 On Alice and keeping secrets 27:23 Working with three editors 31:22 Was there ever another ending in mind? 33:37 The 'What-choo' boy 34:59 Jane One and Jane Two 36:59 The reality of the smoking machine 38:11 The possibility of an adaptation 38:50 What's next?

Charlie and Paula Cocozza (Speak To Me) discuss how phones have taken the place of conversation, a number of literary Susans, and Paula tells us about her love of reading and libraries in childhood.

The Guardian's story on Kirstie Allsopp smashing her daughter's IPad Susan Cain's Quiet Suze Rotolo's A Freewheelin' Time I am (happy?) to say that Susan the dog is no longer the first Susan mentioned on pages about 'Susan' on Wikipedia Hanif Kureshi's Intimacy (beware NSFW cover) The Reading Agency Paula's column, A New Start After 60

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Discussions

01:08 The inspiration and our modern phone usage 09:01 The hows of how Paula wrote the book 16:12 On the narrator's reliability 19:43 All the Susans in this book! 22:21 The Victorian terrace house, our main character's former home 24:22 Anthony 27:51 So Paula wrote some of the book with pen and paper... 29:40 The use of Shakespeare's Malvolio 31:30 Our narrator's dealings with Anthony and Kurt later in the book, and miscommunication 36:32 Our narrator's relationship with her sons 38:55 Why our narrator is a librarian - Paula's reading journey 43:40 What's next 45:39 On Paula's current feature series for The Guardian, A New Start After 60

Charlie and Nicolai Houm (The Gradual Disappearance Of Jane Ashland) discuss a unique and somewhat extreme form of coping with grief, where his characterisation blends into his own writer self, and the open ending he left his readers with.

Please note that there's some swearing and mentions of suicide in this episode.

Wikipedia's article on Andersonville Prison

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Discussions

01:20 The starting point of loss and trauma 07:32 Jane, family, and replacing family 12:59 Jane as a writer and how she could have written the book herself 15:35 Nicolai's use of language and how his writer self is included in the book 20:51 Everything about Ulf 24:05 The significance of the musk oxen 28:14 Continuing on the musk oxen in regards to the ending of the book 31:48 How Jane's parents affected who she is 33:03 Nicolai's travels for surfing reasons and what's next

Charlie and Elissa Soave (Ginger And Me) discuss including the working class in fiction, writing about neuro-divergence without labels, and social care and society in context. We also discuss Elissa's Greggs habit, writing about her hometown, and why her editor told her 'this is not Reservoir Dogs...'

Please note that there is a mild swear word in this episode.

The Primadonna Prize Laura Pearson's episode was number 11 Kazuo Ishiguru's Nobel Prize speech Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

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Discussions

01:27 The starting point for the book and discussing 'difference' of personality and labels 09:36 The people on the bus and exploring the lives of the working class 13:49 Ginger 15:21 Diane 17:13 Friendship and loneliness 20:23 The writing group 24:20 Uddingston 27:44 The importance of food in the novel 29:17 Wendy's parents 32:14 Social care in the book and our society 36:24 Ginger's death 40:56 Wendy not changing at the end (and including Ali Smith!) 43:53 What's next

Charlie and Lisa See (Lady Tan's Circle Of Women) discuss the medieval Chinese woman doctor Tan Yuanxian, whose book is still in use today. We also discuss, in this context, the isolation and disability of being an aristocratic woman in the time period.

Please note that there is swearing in this episode.

Tan Yuan Xian's Miscellaneous Records Of A Female Doctor Hildegard Von Bingen The Washing Away Of Wrongs

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Discussions

00:55 About Tan Yuan Xian 06:00 Facts versus fiction, where we don't know all that much about Yuan Xian 11:21 While there were many of them, we don't know much about other women doctors in China at that time... 12:44 The importance of friendship in the novel 17:50 Being born in the year of the (Metal) Snake 22:22 The true story of a midwife who had a miscarriage in front of the empress 26:52 The focus on isolation, and foot binding 34:47 Lady Kuo 41:54 Miss Zhao 44:25 The murder mystery 49:58 The men, and in particular Yuan Xian's grandfather 51:16 What's next

Photo credit: Patricia Williams.

Charlie and Eleanor Shearer (River Sing Me Home) discuss how slavery didn't really end when it was abolished, and Eleanor's experiences studying the Caribbean during this time and the knowledge she gained. We also explore different versions of freedom, and the way Eleanor's family influenced her writing.

The Windrush Foundation Samuel Smith's To Shoot Hard Labour Toni Morrison's Beloved Marianne Hirsch V S Naipaul's The Loss Of El Dorado Wikipedia's extensive article on Black Nova Scotians Andrea Levy's Small Island

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Discussions

00:47 The 'apprenticeships' that happened after slavery had 'ended' 02:47 About Eleanor's two 'main' inspirations 06:23 On reparations 10:23 Rachel, and Eleanor's family 15:41 The order in which Rachel finds her children 17:53 Nobody 21:21 The children's fathers 23:42 The theme of motherhood 26:36 Eleanor's wanting to use Creole languages but wanting to keep it accessible to non-Creole speakers 28:28 Mary Grace's muteness 31:59 The oral storytelling 34:34 The different versions of freedom 37:30 The theme of water 40:24 The Maroon communities and their movements 42:27 The Rising of Demerara 45:57 Eleanor's use of the search for El Dorado 47:34 What's next?

Photo credit: Lucinda Douglas-Menzies.

Charlie and Jenni Keer (The Legacy Of Halesham Hall) discuss wacky puzzle houses, writing as a reader, the age gap in her book, and Rebecca-like characters who remain alive.

The Winchester Mystery House, California

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Discussions

01:16 The inspiration/reason for the story 03:29 The house... and Clement Bellingham 08:16 The influence of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca 13:52 On Phoebe ending up with Sidney, and age gaps 16:45 On what Sidney looks like 18:04 The Bellingham board game company 20:52 Sidney's choices, adolescence, and the etymology of 'teenager' 32:45 Phoebe's gaining of the house 37:43 Not needing to live an 'exciting' life in order to be an author 39:20 What's next?

Charlie and Kate Thompson (The Little Wartime Library) discuss the wartime history and community of East London's Bethnal Green - the Tube station that housed locals during the Blitz, the library that moved down into the tunnels and is now back overground, and the people that made the community what it was. We also discuss wartime reading and the measures put in place to stop women reading escapist fiction.

Please note that there is a moderate swear word in this episode.

Bethnal Green Library The Stepney Doorstep Society Bethnal Green Tube Station and history Pellicci's restaurant You can find photos of the underground library, tunnels, Kate in the library archives, and the quotes read, in Kate's article for Historia Magazine Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial in Budapest The event that Kate references that also led to a crush disaster was The Hillsborough Disaster Forever Amber Secrets Of The Singer Girls The Paris Library The Last Bookshop in London The Librarian Of Burned Books

Where to find Kate online

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Where to find Charlie online

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Discussions

02:02 How Kate found her story 04:36 Mrs Chumbley 06:09 The framing, using the Covid lockdown each end of the story 12:57 Why Kate created fictional narrators 15:55 How the tunnels at Bethnal Green Tube Station came to be used as bomb shelters and what it was all like 21:58 The Bethnal Green Tube Disaster 29:24 The Hughes Mansions bombing 31:09 Discussing Bethnal Green Library 32:28 The attempts to stop women reading whatever they wanted 37:26 Wartime reading: Mein Kampf and Forever Amber 40:54 Kate's writing and language 43:06 What's next? 47:05 Bethnal Green Library today 48:44 Kate's forthcoming podcast

Photo credit: Debbie Clark.