Mostly Books Meets...

In the podcast this week, Mostly Books is speaking to author and practicing barrister, Imran Mahmood.

Imran’s debut novel, You Don’t Know Me, was chosen as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club choice when it was published in 2017. It was also longlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year and the Crime Writer’s Association Gold Awards. A TV adaptation of the book was released on Netflix at the end of last year.

Imran recently had a short story included in a crime anthology called ‘The Perfect Crime’ alongside authors such as Vaseem Khan and Walter Mosely.

His latest book, I Know What I Saw, was published in June last year and is out in paperback on 28th April.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. I Know What I Saw is published in the UK by Bloomsbury.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

I Know What I Saw – Imran Mahmood (9781526627667)

You Don’t Know Me – Imran Mahmood (9781405927376)

Wrong Place, Wrong Time – Gillian McAllister (9780241520949)

The Perfect Crime - Edited by: Vaseem Khan & Maxim Jakubowski (9780008462321)

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (9780099549482)

Our guest this week is Sunday Times bestselling author, Beth O’Leary.

Beth wrote her debut novel, The Flatshare, on her train journey to and from her job at a children’s publisher. Since then she has gone on to write a further three books and her writing has been translated into more than 30 languages. Beth’s latest novel, The No-Show, was published on 12th April.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. The No-Show is published in the UK by Quercus Publishing.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Bramley Hedge books by Jill Barklem

Lucie Yi is Not Romantic by Lauren Ho - 9780008505653

Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes - 9780241958438

The No-Show by Beth O’Leary - 9781529409109

Our guest this week is author Tom Watson.

Tom is a graduate of the UEA creative writing course where he won the Curtis Brown Prize. Metronome, his debut novel was published on 31st March. It is an utterly compelling read examining what happens to human relationships and love when put under extreme pressure.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. Metronome is published in the UK by Bloomsbury.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Metronome - Tom Watson 9781526639547

My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell 9780141374109

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 - Sue Townsend 9780141315980

Moby-Dick - Herman Melville 9780141198958

East of Eden - John Steinbeck 9780141185071

The Secret History - Donna Tartt 9780140167771

The Waves - Virginia Woolf 9781784870843

The Shipping News - Annie Proulx 9781857022421

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 9780571258246

Dept. of Speculation - Jenny Offill 9781847088741

Our guest this week is children’s author, Hannah Gold.

Hannah is passionate about writing stories which share her love of the planet. Her debut middle-grade book, The Last Bear, was the biggest selling debut hardback of 2021 as well as being shortlisted for numerous awards including The Blue Peter Book Award. Her new book, The Lost Whale, comes out in March.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. The Lost Whale is published in the UK by HarperCollins.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

The Last Bear - Hanna Gold 9780008411312

The Lost Whale - Hannah Gold 9780008543280

The Ugly Duckling - Hans Christian Anderson 9781474991193

Fledgling - Lucy Hope 9781839941887

The Animals of Farthing Wood - Colin Dann 9781405281805

This week we are delighted to be hosting not one, but two brilliant creatives; author Swapna Haddow and illustrator Dapo Adeola.

Swapna Haddow is the writer of the popular prize-winning Dave Pigeon and Bad Panda series and Dapo Adeola is an award-winning illustrator, who co-created and illustrated the picture book Look Up! And is the writer of the book Hey You! An Empowering Celebration of Growing Up Black

Together they have created the wonderful and heartwarming picture book My Dad is a Grizzly Bear which was released last year. This month they released their second collaboration My Mum is a Lioness.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. My Mum is a Lioness is published in the UK by Pan Macmillan.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

My Mum is a Lioness - 9781529013993

My Dad Is A Grizzly Bear - 9781529013979

Hey You!: An empowering celebration of growing up Black - 9780241521946

Look Up! - 9780241345849

Clean Up! - 9780241345894

We're Going to Find the Monster - 9780241401309

Dave Pigeon - 9780571323302

Bad Panda - 9780571352418

Little Rabbit's Big Surprise - 9781788950299

Dave Pigeon (Nuggets!) - 9780571324439

Ballet Bunnies: Millie's Birthday - 9780192774873

Please Don't Feed the Vampire! - 9781407157344

Burglar Bill - 9780140503012

The Henna Artist - 9780778331476

The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh - 9780702300851

Danny the Champion of the World - 9780141365411

The Field Guide - 9781471174940

Look Both Ways - 9781999642594

When I Was the Greatest - 9780571369645

Head to the Mostly Books Website to buy a copy of these books with a 10% discount for the next month: www.mostly-books.co.uk/shop

Our guest this week is author Robert Edric.

Robert’s first novel, Winter Garden, was published in 1986 and went on to win the James Tait Black award. Since then, he has written a grand total of twenty-eight novels. Including Peacetime and Gathering the Water which were both longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Telegraph described his backlist as “one of the most extraordinary bodies of work to appear from a single author”.

Robert’s latest book, a memoir, is called My Own Worst Enemy and is a touching and vivid portrait of 1960s working-class Sheffield. At the core of this deeply engaging account of a bygone era is the relationship between a deeply insecure and overbearing father and his educated son, of two people join by blood and yet are worlds apart. D. J. Taylor writing in The Spectator described it as “Neatly written, psychologically acute and never disguising the hurt that lies at its core, this is a small masterpiece.”

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. My Own Worst Enemy is published in the UK by Swift.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

My Own Worst Enemy : Scenes of a Childhood - Robert Edric (9781800750814)

Sons and Lovers - D H Lawrence (9780141199856)

Stalingrad - Antony Beevor (9780141032405)

The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it - Stuart Maconie (9781529102437)

I Wanna Be Yours - John Cooper Clarke (9781509896127)

Lay Down My Sword and Shield - James Lee Burke (9781398706392)

Orwell: The Life - D. J. Taylor (9780099283461)

The Battle of Britain - by James Holland (9780552156103)

In the Podcast this week, we’re speaking to author Kasim Ali.

Kasim has previously had a short story published in The Good Journal and has been longlisted for both the 4th Estate B4ME Short Story Prize and shortlisted for Hachette's Mo Siewcherran Prize.

On the 3rd of March his debut novel Good Intentions was published by 4th Estate. It tells of the story of Nur and Yasmina who have been together for four happy years, however Nur has not yet told his parents of Yasmina’s existence for fear of losing his status as the Golden Child.

On New Years Eve he decides to break the news to his parents: That he has built a life with a woman he loves and she is Black.

Author Lillian Li described it as “Compelling, emotionally honest, and unafraid of the grey areas of race, faith, sexuality and love.” It is a beautifully written novel, and one that stands out for me for its exquisite rendering of the complex relationships between lovers, family, and friends. Good Intentions asserts an exciting new voice on the UK literary scene.

When he is not writing Kasim is an assistant editor at Penguin Random House and is currently working on his third novel while he should be editing his second.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. Good Intentions is published in the UK by 4th Estate.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Good Intentions – Kasim Ali (9780008450656)

The Stolen – Alex Shearer

Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (9780141198965)

Dracula – Bram Stoker (9780141199337)

Attack Of The Graveyard Ghouls - R.L. Stine (9781407157290)

The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket (9781405266062)

The Secret History - Donna Tartt (9780140167771)

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara (9781529077216)

White Teeth - Zadie Smith (9780140276336)

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid (9780141029542)

The Incarnations - Susan Barker (9781784160005)

Our guest this week is Hafsa Zayyan.

Hafsa’s book, We Are All Birds of Uganda, was published early last year and has just been released into paperback.

One of the breakout debuts of 2021, it was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and a Book Club pick for both the BBC Radio 2 and Sky Book Show. The book has attracted a lot of well-deserved praise since winning the inaugural #Merkey Books New Writers Prize chosen by a panel of judges including Stormzy.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. We Are All Birds of Uganda is published in the UK by @penguinukbooks.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan – 9781529118667

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters – 9781788167222

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe – 9780141023380

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg

In the podcast this week, we’re speaking to author, copywriter and bookseller, Jen Williams.

Jen started her writing career by creating character-driven fantasy novels full of adventure and magic. They were extremely successful and Jen was awarded the British Fantasy award on two occasions.

More recently, Jen has written dark unsettling thrillers with strong female leads. He latest book, Dog Rose Dirt was published in paperback on 20th January.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. Dog Rose Dirt is published in the UK by Harper Collins.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Dog Rose Dirt by Jen Williams

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Stand by Stephen King

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This week we’re speaking to author, Lucy Diamond.

Lucy has been writing uplit fiction since 2007. She has published three novellas and seventeen novels, the latest of which, Anything Could Happen, came out in January this year.

Lucy Diamond is actually called Sue Mongredien but she writes under a pseudonym because she initially started out writing children’s books.

Lucy’s books are perfect for escapism, fun books that are ideal for anyone who has been struggling with reading motivation during lockdown.

The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. Anything Could Happen is published in the UK by Quercus Publishing.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond (9781529419603)

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (9780141365459)

Rainbow Magic by Daisy Meadows (9781408364482)

Writers and Lovers by Lily King (9781529033137)

Any Way You Want Me by Lucy Diamond (9781509811144)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (9780349006574)