Satirical writer John O'Farrell and historian Juliet Barker talk to Harriett Gilbert about their favourite books - all of which use an unusual blend of fact and fiction.

They evoke the lives of the Brontes, the worst civilian disaster of World War II and the British mandate in Palestine.

The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan

The Report by Jessica Francis Kane

Panther in the Basement by Amos Oz

Producer Beth O'Dea

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011.