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The award-winning Irish writer, Liz Nugent, speaks to Take Four Books about her latest novel, The Truth About Ruby Cooper, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works of fiction. Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode.

For her three influences Liz chose: Ian McEwan's Atonement from 2001, the book was later adapted into a film of the same name starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy; Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy from 1992; and Patrick Süskind’s 1985 novel, Perfume.

This episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Hay Festival 2026.

Producer: Dominic Howell

Min Jin Lee reads her story “Testing,” from the July 27, 2026, issue of the magazine. Lee is the author of the novels “Free Food for Millionaires” and “Pachinko,” which was a National Book Award finalist in 2017. Her third novel, “American Hagwon,” from which this week’s story was adapted, will be published in September.

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If Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have their way, the new space age will bring holidays in orbit, asteroid mining and human colonies on Mars. Musk says humanity must become a “multi-planetary species”. But philosopher Ben Bramble argues that vision is a dangerous fantasy. In his new book, Lunacy: Ten False Promises of the New Space Age he says our priority should be solving the problems here on Earth — not chasing the promise of another world.

Guest: Ben Bramble, Lecturer in Philosophy, Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University 

Producer: Ali Benton

Learn more about Alpha School at ⁠https://go.alpha.school/howiwrite

David Baldacci, one of the most prolific writers in the world, joins us on the show today. He has written 53 novels and seven children’s books, publishes two novels every year, and has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide.

How does he craft great stories, develop compelling characters, and build tension? How does he approach the business of publishing? Drawing from his background as a lawyer and his time in boardrooms worldwide, what strategies does he employ to ensure his books sell and are read? This conversation explores those very questions.

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The Mitfords continue to fascinate us, thanks to the witty novels, biographies and letters they wrote, their political involvement on both left and right, and their brush with world history. Rarely a year goes by without another Mitford documentary, film or television series, a volume of letters or a biography. In our latest podcast our emphasis moves from the girls to their mother – matriarch of one of the most outrageous, controversial, influential, glamorous and intriguing families of the twentieth century.

Sydney Redesdale (née Bowles), known by her family as ‘Muv’, was never going to have a conventional life. Her mother died when she was 7, and from the age of 14 she ran her father’s house. She fell in love with David Mitford (later Lord Redesdale) as a teenager and they married in 1904. Of their seven children, Nancy, Pamela, Tom, Diana, Jessica, Unity and Debo, two became bestselling authors, one was imprisoned and two lost their lives as a result of the Second World War, and their political views ranged from fascism to communism.

Sydney was the original Mitford girl, from whom much of her daughters’ legendary strong will, self-confidence and extremism was born. Nancy’s satires of aristocratic life between the wars, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, portray Sydney as Aunt Sadie, vague and rather disconnected, but in fact Sydney was a divisive character and her daughters squabbled about the nature of the ‘real Muv’ for even longer than they argued about their own political differences.

Our guests on this podcast are two modern Mitfordians, Rachel Trethewey, biographer,  historian and author of Muv: The Story of the Mitford Girls’ Mother, and Frances Donnelly, broadcaster, writer and contributor to Slightly Foxed. Alongside discussion of Sydney and the difficulties of writing about someone with whom you disagree and find hard to like at times, the guests and our editors choose their favourite Mitford titles.

Summer reading recommendations include R. C. Sheriff’s The Fortnight in September and Anne Tyler’s Three Days in June.

Rowan Williams speaking about his new book, Solidarity - The Work of Recognition, at the Oldie Literary Lunch, held at London’s National Liberal Club, on July 14th 2026.

This week's podcast is kindly sponsored by Baillie Gifford, Actual Investors, who take a long-term approach to investing in exceptional companies.

Why does it feel like everything is more divided and exhausting than it used to be? Philosopher Agnes Callard has a surprisingly simple answer: the unicontext. It's her term for what happens when billions of people are all forced to inhabit the same global conversation through the internet and social media.

In this episode, Derek talks with Callard about how the unicontext has reshaped the way we experience time, attention, and morality. They explore why online life feels overwhelmingly negative and why public discourse has become so focused on outrage and identity. It's a conversation that connects philosophy with the modern experience of living online, ultimately offering a framework for understanding why our world just feels so weird.

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https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Agnes Callard
Producer: Devon Baroldi
Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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Monaghan born Patrick Kavanagh was a notorious presence in Dublin for much of his life. Broke, drunk and often bitter, he boozed in the bars around Grafton Street, clashing with the likes of Brendan Behan and railing against the literary establishment. Always an outsider, he nonetheless transformed Irish poetry by focusing on the ordinary aspects of rural Ireland, paving the way for the likes of Seamus Heaney, and writing perhaps the greatest love song of all time, Raglan Road.

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Margaret Drabble’s new collection, The Great Good Places, is an omnium gatherum of essays, stories and memoir, drawing on a lifetime’s worth of insight and wisdom. ‘Generous, perceptive, and good-humoured, Margaret Drabble is always a delight to read’, wrote Joan Bakewell; The Great Good Places has all these qualities in evidence. Drabble was in conversation with Tessa Hadley, whose most recent novel is The Party (Vintage).

You can buy a copy of The Great Good Places from the London Review Bookshop.

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Continuing on Mere Christianity (1952). We discuss his take on the problem of evil, how happiness is impossible without Christ, our potential to evolve from bios (biological nature) vs. zoe (spiritual nature), sexual morality, pride, and more.

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Sponsors: Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/pel. Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.