Anna and Geoff discuss their reaction to the 2025 Booker Prize winner, FLESH by David Szalay, and the winner of the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction, Australian author Helen Garner for her collection of diaries HOW TO END A STORY. Our book of the week is CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner. Her follow-up novel after the Booker-shortlisted Mars Room, this centres on Sadie Smith, an undercover agent who infiltrates a commune in rural France. It was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. This raised questions we weren't expecting from a literary novel, such as: Is it a spy thriller? Is Sadie enough of a slob to be compared with Jackson Lamb? Which Sesame Street character does Bruno remind us of? Coming up: NESTING by Roisin O'Donnell

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Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz