The Brit Lit Podcast

Our guest on episode 70 is Sophie Cousens, the author of the romantic novel This Time Next Year. She and I talked working in TV taught her about storytelling, what she misses about London, the special island where she lives now, her next book, and more.

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Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

Buy all the books from Bookshop UK here

Buy all the books available in the US from Bookshop US here

This Time Next Year, by Sophie Cousens

Just Haven't Met You Yet, by Sophie Cousens

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab

Writers and Lovers, by Lily King

The Summer Job, by Lizzy Dent

Uncoupled / The Paris Connection, by Lorraine Brown

The Mismatch, by Sara Jafari

Beach Read, by Emily Henry

The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes

The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

He Will Be Mine, by Kristy Greenwood

Common Ground, by Naomi Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Who's Loving You, by Sareeta Domingo

The Littlest Library, by Poppy Alexander

Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

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In the US and now the UK, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In other countries, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

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The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Sophie Cousens

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Our guest today is Lorraine Brown, whose debut novel Uncoupling came out a couple of weeks ago in the UK, and will be out in the US as The Paris Connection this summer. It's a delightful love story which made for a great start to my reading year. Lorraine spoke to me just before her novel was published, and we had a meandering chat about all kinds of things from our love of trains, our experiences of LA, why authors should stay away from their Goodreads reviews, and more.

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

(All available in the UK here and most available in the US here)

Uncoupling/The Paris Connection, by Lorraine Brown

The Note, by Zoe Folbigg

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

The Chalet, by Catherine Cooper

The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley

The Guest List, by Lucy Foley

The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

Girl A, by Abigail Dean

The Submission, by Amy Waldman

Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling, by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen

The Crow Folk, by Mark Stay

The Divines, by Ellie Eaton

Insatiable, by Daisy Buchanan

Raceless, by Georgina Lawton

*****

In the US and now the UK, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In other countries, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation?

Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Lorraine Brown

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Our guest today is Cherie Jones, whose Barbados-set novel How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is hot off the press and has won praise from all quarters. Cosmopolitan calls it "visceral and haunting" and Bernadine Evaristo says that it's "a hard-hitting and unflinching novel from a bold new writer who tackles head-on the brutal extremes of patriarchal abuse".

Cherie and I talked about what it's like to study writing far from home, where to start if you want to read short stories, what it's like to live in Barbados, and more.

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

(All available in the UK here and most available in the US here)

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House, by Cherie Jones UK / US / Worldwide

In Praise of Love and Children, by Beryl Gilroy UK / US / Worldwide

The Girl with the Louding Voice, by Abi Daré UK / US / Worldwide

Augustown, by Kai Miller UK / US / Worldwide

The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead UK / US / Worldwide

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, by Leanne Shapton UK / US / Worldwide

Ms Hempel Chronicles, by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum UK / US / Worldwide

Summer Lightning & Other Stories, by Olive Senior UK / US / Worldwide

Miguel Street, by V. S. Naipaul UK / US / Worldwide

People Like Her, by Ellery Lloyd UK / US / Worldwide

Rescue Me, by Sarra Manning UK / US / Worldwide

The Lonely Fajita, by Abigail Mann UK / US / Worldwide

Alexa, What Is There to Know About Love, by Brian Bilston UK / US / Worldwide (signed!)

Little Scratch, by Rebecca Watson UK / US / Worldwide

The Humiliations of Welton Blake, by Alex Wheatle UK / US / Worldwide

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe UK / US / Worldwide

*****

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

In the US and now the UK, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In other countries, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Cherie Jones

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Our guest today is bestselling novelist Milly Johnson, who's the author of many books of romantic fiction, most recently I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. Milly has had a fascinating career, including as a greetings card joke writer, and I hope you'll enjoy learning about that as much as I did! She talks to us about Christmas themed-book recommendations, why her latest book is her favourite of hers, her time ghost writing for Purple Ronnie, and more.

*****

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

*****

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

(All availalble in the UK here)

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, by Milly Johnson UK / US / Worldwide

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe UK / US / Worldwide

The Yorkshire Pudding Club, by Milly Johnson UK / US / Worldwide

The Birds and the Bees, by Milly Johnson UK / US / Worldwide

The Queen of Wishful Thinking, by Milly Johnson UK / US / Worldwide

For My Best Friend Forever, by Purple Ronnie UK / US / Worldwide

Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Jumper, by Debbie Johnson UK / US / Worldwide

The World at My Feet, by Catherine Isaac UK / US / Worldwide

Christmas For Beginners, by Carole Matthews UK / US / Worldwide

Let's Meet on Platform 8, by Carole Matthews UK / US / Worldwide

I Heart Christmas, by Lindsey Kelk UK / US / Worldwide

Seven Days of Us, by Francesca Hornak UK / US / Worldwide

The Adults, by Caroline Hulse UK / US / Worldwide

The Little Library Christmas, by Kate Young UK / US / Worldwide

Seven Kinds of People You Meet in Bookshops, by Shaun Blythell UK / US / Worldwide

The Flip Side, by James Bailey UK / US / Worldwide

Black History Walks, by Tony Warner UK / US / Worldwide

Erin's Diary, by Lisa McGee UK / US / Worldwide

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Find gift ideas for bookworms here in the UK, here in the US, and more here.

Buy a Libro.fm audiobook gift subscription and support the podcast here.

Lots of Christmas themed books collected for your reading pleasure here!

In the US and now the UK, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In other countries, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Milly Johnson

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Our guest on episode 66 is Lucy Farfort, who's the illustrator of the gorgeous new picture book Afraid of the Dark, written by Isabel Otter and Sarah Shaffi. It's a lovely book about moving house, new beginnings, friendship and finding ways to cope with fear. Lucy and I talked about the process of illustrating books, advice for anyone who'd like to get into the field, the importance of diversity in publishing, and more.

You can see Lucy Farfort talking about and showing us her book here.

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Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

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Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

Afraid of the Dark, by Isabel Otter, Sarah Shaffi, and Lucy Farfort UK / US / Worldwide

Islandborn, by Junot Diaz and Leo Espinosa UK / US / Worldwide

Billy and the Beast, by Nadia Shireen UK / US / Worldwide

The Bear and the Piano, by David Litchfield UK / US / Worldwide

Holes, by Louis Sachar UK / US / Worldwide

When Life Gives You Mangos, by Kereen Getten UK / US /Wordwide

Failosophy, by Elizabeth Day UK / US / Worldwide

Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton UK / US / Worldwide

The Little Library Year, by Kate Young UK / US / Worldwide

The Little Library Christmas, by Kate Young UK / US / Worldwide

Freshers, by Lucy Ivison and Tom Ellen UK / US / Worldwide

All About Us, by Tom Ellen UK / US / Worldwide

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday, by Milly Johnson UK / US / Worldwide

Mantel Pieces, by Hilary Mantel UK / US / Worldwide

A Song for the Dark Times, by Ian Rankin UK / US / Worldwide

Symona's Still Single, by Lisa Bent UK / US / Worldwide

Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams UK / US / Worldwide

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe UK / US / Worldwide

*****

In the US and now the UK, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In other countries, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted, here in the UK, here in the US, and here worldwide.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Lucy Farfort

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Our guest on episode 65 is Annie Lyons, who, among other books, is the author of the lovely, heart-warming novel Eudora Honeysett Is Quite Well, Thank You, known in the US as The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. It's about an older woman who grew up in the Second World War and is now at the end of her life, and kind of over the whole thing, and ready to be done. But then a new family moves in next door, and she makes a new friend. I read it this spring, when reading had been a struggle for weeks –it was just the book I needed.

Among other things, Annie talked to me about her recent favourite reads, her love of Mary Berry, and about her fascinating career in publishing – she worked as a bookseller on Charing Cross Road for a while, and I guarantee you will never be able to guess who her most famous customer was.

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive?

Here are some painless ways.

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeysett

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes, by Ruth Hogan

Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding

Captain Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

The Book of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka

Mary Berry's Christmas Collection, by Mary Berry

Mary Berry's Baking Bible, by Mary Berry

Once Upon a Tyne, by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly

Byker Grove, by Adele Parks

The Diary of an MP's Wife, by Sasha Swire

The Baby Group, by Caroline Corcoran

Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton

The High Moments, by Sara-Ella Ozbek

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In the UK, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Annie Lyons

Twitter / Website

Our guest today is Gillian Harvey, the author of Everything Is Fine. She and I talked about how she ended up living in France, how social media can affect our self-worth, and more.

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Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

Everything is Fine, by Gillian Harvey

A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle

A Year in the Merde, by Stephen Clark

The Neighbour, by Nicola Gill

Normal People, by Sally Rooney

This Lovely City, by Louise Hare

After the End, by Clare Mackintosh

Intimations, by Zadie Smith

The Fleet Street Girls, by Julie Welch

Love in Colour, by Bolu Babalola

Diamonds at the Lost and Found, by Sarah Aspinall

Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

*****

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In the UK, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / Website

Claire

Twitter / Facebook / Blog / Novel

Gillian Harvey

Twitter / Website

Our guest on episode 63 is Robert Webb, who, as well as being a writer, is an actor, best known for the hit British comedy Peep Show. He's the author most recently of the novel Come Again. He describes that novel like this: Middle-aged widow time travels back to 1992 and tries to save future dead husband when he is an annoying student. Grief, nostalgia, jokes, car-chase, new love, renewal, joy. He and I talked about 90s nostalgia, the unusual structure of his book, and the emotional toll of time travel.

*****

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

*****

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

Come Again, by Robert Webb

The Innocent, by Ian McEwan

Feel Free, by Zadie Smith

Sweet Sorry, by David Nicholls

One Day, by David Nicholls

Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry

A Star is Bored, by Byron Lane

Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher

The Golden Rule, by Amanda Craig (UK, 2nd July, literary fiction)

Hearts and Minds, by Amanda Craig

How Do We Know We're Doing It Right? by Pandora Sykes (UK, 9th July, essays)

The Hungover Games, by Sophie Heawood

My Best Friend's Girl, by Dorothy Koomson

All My Lies Are True by Dorothy Koomson

In Case You Missed It by Lindsey Kelk

Note to Boy, by Sue Clarke

Older and Wider, by Jenny Eclair (UK, 2nd July, non-fiction)

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

*****

Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

Sign up for Book of the Month and get your first book for just $9.99 with the code BRITLIT!

In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

In the UK, and for paperbacks and hardbacks published in the UK and not available elsewhere, head to Blackwells.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

I encourage you, now and always, to buy some of your books from Black-owned bookshops in London and in the UK more generally.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Robert Webb

Twitter

Today, we're revisiting our interview with Diana Evans from a couple of years ago, as well as hearing about new books out this month. Diana Evans is the author of three novels, 26a, The Wonder, and most recently Ordinary People, which came out this spring in the UK to much acclaim and is out this week in the US. She talked to Claire about her favourite London-set books, her own past life as a dancer, why it was important for her to capture the experience of middle class black brits, and more.

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

26a, by Diana Evans

The Wonder, by Diana Evans

Ordinary People, by Diana Evans

After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, by Jean Rhys

On Beauty, by Zadie Smith

This Is London: Life and Death in the World City, by Ben Judah

Heart Berries, by Terese Marie Mailhot

Tender Is the Night, by F Scott Fitzgerald

Dancer, by Colum McCann

Lucia Joyce: To Dance in the Wake, by Lucia Joyce

Nijinski, by Richard Buckle

The Cranes Dance, by Meg Howrey

Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates

Get a Life, Chloe Brown, by Talia Hibbert

Take a Hint, Dani Brown, by Talia Hibbert

To Be Someone, by Ian Stone

Out of Love, by Hazel Hayes

The Seduction, by Joanna Briscoe

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

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I encourage you, now and always, to buy some of your books from Black-owned bookshops in London and in the UK more generally.

Here's a list of books by Black British authors.

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

Sign up for Book of the Month and get your first book for just $9.99 with the code BRITLIT!

In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

Get your first three audiobooks for under $5 each with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.

Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at [email protected]

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / Website

Claire

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Diana Evans

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On episode 62, we hear from Rachel Winters, the author of the rom com Would Like to Meet. She and I talked about our favourite rom coms in both books and film form, advice for people wanting to get into publishing, books featuring older people, and more.

Books Mentioned on the Podcast:

(buy them all here)

Would Like to Meet, by Rachel Winters

You Deserve Each Other, by Sarah Hogle

You Had Me At Hello, by Mhairi McFarlane

If I Never Met You, by Mhairi McFarlane

The Switch, by Beth O'Leary

The Flatshare, by Beth O'Leary

The Lido/Mornings with Rosemary (US title), by Libby Page

Now Let's Dance, by Karine Lambert

The Binding, by Bridget Collins

Well Met, by Jen De Luca

Heat Stroke, by Hazel Barkworth

The High Moments, by Sara-Ella

The Cabinet of Calm, by Paul Anthony Jones

Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe

*****

Get your first book for just $9.99 when you sign up for Book of the Month with the code BRITLIT!

In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!

Get 20% off a year's digital subscription to the writing magazine Mslexia. Just click this link and use the code BRITLIT20 at the checkout.

Get your first three audiobooks for under $5 each with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.

Buy Claire's novel, Unscripted.

Support Claire on Patreon to get bonus content and personalised book recommendations.

*****

The Brit Lit Podcast

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Claire

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Rachel Winters

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