The Last House on Needless Street is the final book in Richard and Judy’s Autumn Book Club collection. It’s the story of a murderer, a stolen child, and revenge. An unspeakable truth binds the family that live in the last house on Needless Street, but a new neighbour is intent on uncovering the truth.

Award-winning author Catriona Ward joins Richard and Judy to discuss why she feels the horror genre historically has a problematic relationship with mental health, and why you actually have to be incredibly empathetic to write a good horror book. Plus, she explains the hugely important and clever function Dissociative Identity Disorder serves in people’s lives as a protection mechanism from trauma and abuse.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Autumn Book Club collection, and use the code BOOKCLUB10 for a 10% discount.

 

Reckless mistakes can lead to devastating consequences. Kieren Elliot is haunted by guilt from his past when he returns to the Tasmanian coastal town he used to call home in Jane Harper’s novel The Survivors. Jane tells Richard and Judy about going diving and talking to mental health charities as part of the research for this book.

Mental health is also an important topic for actress and author Rosie Day. She’s written Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon, a call to arms that explores everything from body image and consent, to boundaries and rebellion.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Autumn Book Club collection, and use the code BOOKCLUB10 for a 10% discount.

It’s December 1939 in Berlin; a rigidly enforced blackout plunges the city into darkness every night and allows crime to thrive. Author Simon Scarrow’s novel Blackout follows Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke as he’s under pressure to solve a murder.

Simon joins Richard and Judy to explain why blackouts were imposed, how hedonistic Weimar culture was a casualty of the new Nazi regime, and why he chose to write Schenke as a man who was not a Nazi sympathiser. Plus, Simon explains why he feels it’s healthy for us to challenge accepted historical narratives.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Autumn Book Club collection, and use the code BOOKCLUB10 for a 10% discount.

Paul O’Grady has written his first children’s book – Eddie Albert and the Amazing Animal Gang. Paul has taught his own pigs to sit, and used to answer the door with a bird on his head; he tells Richard and Judy about his love of animals, and how his own experiences inspired the animal characters in his book.

This week’s Book Club read is The Burning Girls. Author C.J. Tudor joins us to explore more macabre themes, from religious rituals and grisly local traditions, to superstitions and belief in the supernatural.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Autumn Book Club collection, and use the code BOOKCLUB10 for a 10% discount.

Sugar, this week’s Book Club read, was first published in the US two decades ago. Now available in the UK, its core themes of race relations, oppression, and abandonment are still just as relevant and vital today.

Richard, Judy, and author Bernice L. McFadden explore prejudices towards sex workers, finding friendship in unlikely places, and how racism manifests in slightly different ways in different parts of the USA.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Autumn Book Club collection, and use the code BOOKCLUB10 for a 10% discount.

A Beautiful Spy is the first of Richard and Judy’s Autumn Book Club reads. Minnie Gray appears to be an ordinary woman, but she’s actually a spy for the British government. It’s the summer of 1928 and she must move away from her family to infiltrate the communist movement.   Author Rachel Hore joins Richard and Judy to discuss the real woman Minnie is based on, the qualities she possessed that made her such a fantastic spy, and the loneliness that can come from leading a double life.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the Autumn Book Club collection, and use the code BOOKCLUB10 for a 10% discount.

 

Eastenders icon Sid Owen has been playing character Ricky on and off since 1988. He joins Richard and Judy to talk about writing his autobiography, From Rags to Ricky, and explains how acting helped him cope with a difficult childhood.

Richard and Judy are also joined by this week’s Book Club author Kiran Millwood Hargrave to discuss her novel The Mercies. A violent storm erupts over a remote Norwegian island in the 17th century, drowning every man on the island as their fishing boats are engulfed. To survive, their wives must take over the fishing themselves, but their independence leads to them being tried as witches. Kiran discusses how she approached writing a fictional retelling of a true story, and Richard shares his personal connection with the Salem witch trials.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk browse the new Summer Book Club collection, and use the code SUMMER10 for a 10% discount.

How many times a day do you lie? That’s what Richard and Judy began to wonder when they read this week’s Book Club novel, When She Was Good. The novel follows Evie Cormac, a teenager who witnessed a brutal murder and is now staying silent, and forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven as he tries to discover what happened to her. Author Michael Robotham discusses how his background as a journalist influenced his decision to write about organised crime and the psychology of criminals.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the new Summer Book Club collection, and use the code SUMMER10 for a 10% discount.

 

Husband and wife Paul Vlitos and Collette Lyons have written their first book together under the pseudonym Ellery Lloyd. People Like Her follows mummy influencer Emmy, who blogs under the name Mamabare. She shares her life as a parent of two young children with her followers, but her online persona hides the offline reality. The authors tell Richard and Judy why they found that two people writing one book is a bit like a game of consequences, and what they’ve learnt about the art of being an online influencer.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the new Summer Book Club collection, and use the code SUMMER10 for a 10% discount.

 

The Idea of You puts a spotlight on relationships where there’s a significant age gap; author Robinne Lee writes a passionate love affair between a 20 year old pop star, and a successful 40-something woman. She explains to Richard and Judy how her own experience of being an actress turning 40 in LA inspired her to write a multi-dimensional female character, and reveals who the pop stars she idolised as a teenager were.

Simply head online to whsmith.co.uk to browse the new Summer Book Club collection, and use the code SUMMER10 for a 10% discount.