Sorry for the lisp this mic seemed to give my audio guys.

This is Saba Sams’ debut novel, all about the sticky stuff, the scum and the scuzz. It’s about the things we’d usually scrub away – instead of glossing over it, we linger there and embrace the mess.

Set in Brighton, we follow an unconventional family dynamic – two young divorcees, Jules and Leon, and the girl, Nim, who gives them her baby,

I interviewed Saba at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Book Festival, as part of their Voicebox programming, which provides inclusivity at the book festival by providing free events which are accessible for everyone. It’s such a great initiative and I’m so pleased to have been involved. Especially when it means getting to interview an author I adore, about a novel that was definitely one of my favourites I read this year — at one point the characters sit on Brighton Pier and eat a warm doughnut in the pouring rain, and that’s exactly what this reading experience was for me too.  In amongst the chaos, there is warmth.

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Our December book of the month is... HAMNET!

Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet won the Women’s Prize in 2020 – an apt year to be awarded, given that it is, in part about a plague. While our own plague, COVID-19 locked us all in our houses, many of us found solace in this beautiful novel. O'Farrell took us back a few centuries to Stratford Upon Avon where Shakespeare's family resided. But this book isn't about Shakespeare -- in fact he's never mentioned by name -- instead, t’s about the playwright's wife Agnes and children Hamnet and Judith. I sat down with Maggie to hear about it, and pose some of your questions to her.

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As soon as I started a book club, I knew we’d have to read Hamnet at some point. Hamnet is a fictional imagination of the life of Anne Hathaway -- here called Agnes because that’s what her family called her -- as well as her children. It’s about the family of William Shakespeare, but in the book he is never called by name. Instead, the spotlight is shifted to his family who are so often a mere footnote in his biography. Here, they are the focal point. Unfortunately his son Hamnet tragically died aged just eleven and, while not much is known about his cause of death, here Maggie O’Farrell speculates what may have happened.

Today we are joined by two special guests who know a thing or two about Hamnet. Paul Mescal is an Academy Award nominated actor, having starred in Aftersun, Gladiator II, All of Us Strangers and of course Normal People. Now he stars as William Shakespeare in the Hamnet film adaptation which is in cinemas in the US today, and in the UK from the 9th of January. He stars alongside Jessie Buckley who plays Agnes. Jessie is also an Academy Award nominated actress, known for her roles in The Lost Daughter, Fargo, Women Talking, and for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the West End revival of the musical Cabaret. 

When I tell you, their portrayals of the characters in this film are just spellbinding. You are totally captivated from the moment they step onto the screen, right to the final frame. I genuinely don’t think this could have been done better and I hope they’re both ready to be nominated for Academy Awards once again because I can’t tell you how much they deserve it. This film is emotionally intense, exploring themes of grief, illness, and heartache. Both deliver career-defining performances – all I’m saying is prepare to sob. Not at this interview though – I mean I hope not at this interview – but certainly at the film.

I sat down with Paul and Jessie to discuss this project, as well as their favourite books. Please welcome to the Inklings book club, Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley…

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Dustin Thao's first novel broke the internet. You've Reached Sam was a BookTok sensation, selling over 1 MILLION copies. Now, he's back with a companion piece called You've Found Oliver, as well as a standalone queer romance novel When Haru Was Here. He joined us during his UK book tour to speak about his timeline-bending novels, the YA genre, and the inspiration behind his work.

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It's getting to that time of year where we start to think about what our favourite book of the year is going to be… and I think I know mine. This is Rejection by Tony Tulathimmute – it’s a collection of interconnected stories with the overarching theme of rejection, and I think it’s one of the most well-constructed and thoughtful satires I’ve ever read. I can’t recommend it enough, it feels like the perfect analysis of the “loneliness epidemic” and the way that rejection manifests in our romantic lives, professional lives, and creative lives. I loved this conversation with Tony, in which we deep-dived into some of the stories in this collection.

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Trespasses is a politically charged forbidden love story as well as an astute depiction of a complicated mother-daughter dynamic. We follow Cushla whose name comes from an Irish Gaelic saying meaning “my pulse” – it’s an equivalent to sweetheart or darling, but specifically "the pulse of my heart". And that is who she is for multiple characters.

Her mother Gina is an addict and requires a lot of caring for to keep her from taking things too far. Cushla works at her brother’s bar in the evenings and at a school in the daytime, and falls in love with one of the pub’s patrons, Michael. The trouble is, she’s catholic and Michael is protestant – oh and he’s also married. They embark on a love affair that changes both of them forever, it’s that invisible string idea of someone you just keep being drawn back to.

Politics infiltrate every aspect of life, and their love becomes totally consuming, so there’s a lot of intense emotion. Louise Kennedy expertly navigates this with the dark humour characteristic of Irish fiction, and it’s just so exquisite to read. Truly a masterclass in writing. 5/5 I loved it.

It’s now been turned into a TV show starring Lola Petticrew as Cushla, Tom Cullen as Michael, and Gillian Anderson as Gina. I had the privilege of sitting down with this gorgeous cast to ask them about the show, and here’s what happened.

You can stream every episode of Trespasses on Channel 4 now!!

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Today’s book of choice is Die My Love by Ariana Harwicz, an Argentine writer, screenwriter, playwright, and documentary maker. It was first published in Spanish in 2012, before being translated into English in 2017 by Sarah Moses and Caroline Orloff, and longlisted for the International Booker Prize. For our discussion, we are welcoming not one, not two, but three incredibly special guests: Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, celebrated director Lynne Ramsay, and award-nominated translator Carolina Orloff. Carolina founded Charco Press, and Die My Love was actually their first release!

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This is the third and final instalment in our three-part Frankenstein extravaganza. We’ve heard from a Shelley scholar about the origins of the book, we’ve heard from Guillermo Del Toro about the themes of the book, but today I wanted to focus on the characters of the book. Two people who know these characters very well are Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi.

In Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, Oscar portrays the eponymous Victor Frankenstein, while Jacob takes on the role of the creature. Their performances are magnificent, Jacob manages to show so many emotions just through his eyes, while Oscar delivers a captivating and raw journey throughout Victor’s life. Their on-screen chemistry is truly extraordinary and I hope they’ve got a lot of suits ready for awards season, because they’re going to need them.

I was extremely lucky to have the opportunity to chat with these world class actors, about Frankenstein in particular but also books in general. I hope you enjoy the chat, and stay tuned afterwards for a special reading from the novel. 

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Mexican filmmaker and THREE-time Academy Award winner Guillermo Del Toro joins the Inklings Book Club to discuss Mary Shelley's gothic classic Frankenstein, as well as his new Netflix adaptation. We spoke about the horror genre, his favourite books, and the library he calls Bleak House.

Frankenstein is streaming from November 7th on Netflix.

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Mary Shelley published Frankenstein anonymously in 1818. She was later credited for her work, but the book's origin story is just as interesting as the novel itself. In the "year without a summer" of 1816, Mary joined her husband Percy and Lord Byron for a weekend away, where the scared each other with ghost tales. They came up with a challenge to see who could write the creepiest story of their own, and Frankenstein was born. I sat down with Rachael Marsay, the Roy Davids Archivist of Modern Literary Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries, to discuss the creation of this gothic classic.

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