Marian Keyes talks about one of her most popular novels, Rachel's Holiday. Rachel Walsh is an Irish woman in her late 20s living in New York, but whose life is disintegrating around her. She's lost her dead-end job; her boyfriend Luke has broken up with her; her best friend and flat-mate Brigit can't cope with her behaviour any longer – and the reason for all this, which Rachel just can't see, is that she's become addicted to drugs and alcohol. Her 'holiday' is a trip into a rehab clinic in Dublin - the Cloisters - where she imagines she'll get away from it all, but discovers more about herself then she expected. Marian Keyes's book has been an international phenomenon - and maybe one reason, apart from its wit, is that it tells a story from the inside. As a recovering alcoholic herself, Marian understands Rachel's journey and how humour can help people survive. Presented by James Naughtie and a group of invited readers ask the questions. To take part in future Bookclubs apply at bookclub@bbc.co.uk Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn April's Bookclub Choice - Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (2014)

Bookclub

Marian Keyes - Rachel's Holiday

Journalist James Meek talks about his novel The People's Act of Love, first published in 2005, a bold and imaginative work based in the wilds of Siberia where a strange and violent group of individuals come together with sinister results. Set in a time of great social upheaval, warfare, and terrorism, and against a stark, lawless Siberia at the end of the Russian Revolution, The People’s Act of Love portrays the fragile coexistence of a beautiful, independent mother raising her son alone, a megalomaniac Czech captain and his restless regiment, and a mystical separatist Christian sect. When a mysterious, charismatic stranger trudges into their snowy village with a frighteningly outlandish story to tell, its balance is shaken to the core. James Naughtie presents and invited Bookclub readers join in the discussion To take part in future Bookclubs apply at bookclub@bbc.co.uk March's Bookclub choice : Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn

James Meek - The People's Act of Love

American author Erin Morgenstern talks about her fantasy novel The Night Circus which has become a cult favourite with readers. James Naughtie presents and an invited group of readers ask the questions. It's the story of a mysterious Victorian travelling circus that only opens at night and is constructed entirely in black and white. Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists Le Cirque des Rêves is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. the circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs, the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters they find themselves locked in a deadly contest and the two rivals defy all the rules of the game by falling in love. You can hear a reading of The Night Circus on BBC Radio 4 Extra Monday 6 January - Friday 10 January at 1800 To take part in future Bookclubs apply at bookclub@bbc.co.uk February's Bookclub Choice : The People's Act of Love by James Meek (2005) Presented by James Naughtie Produced by Dymphna Flynn

Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus

American author Ben Lerner talks about Leaving the Atocha Station, his first novel narrated by a young man living outside his usual experience. Adam Gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young American poet on a prestigious fellowship in Madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. Instead of following the dictates of his fellowship, Adam's 'research' becomes a meditation on the possibility of the genuine in the arts and beyond: are his relationships with the people he meets in Spain as fraudulent as he fears his poems are? Is poetry an essential art form, or merely a screen for the reader's projections? A witness to the 2004 Madrid train bombings and their aftermath, he needs to decide whether he participates in historic events or merely watch them pass him by. Presented by James Naughtie and recorded with a group of readers asking the questions. To take part in future Bookclubs email bookclub@bbc.co.uk January 2020's Bookclub Choice : The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011) Presented by James Naughtie Produced by Dymphna Flynn

Ben Lerner - Leaving the Atocha Station

To mark Bookclub's 21st birthday Helen Fielding talks about her creation Bridget Jones, with the first novel in the series, Bridget Jones's Diary. Bridget has now become an iconic figure in modern fiction. Bridget Jones started life as a weekly column in the pages of The Independent in 1995, when Fielding worked on the news desk. Refusing to use her own byline, Helen’s column chronicled the life and antics of fictional Bridget Jones as a thirty-something single woman in London trying to make sense of life and love - and was published as a novel in 1996. Helen says in Bookclub that she honestly expected the column would be axed after six weeks for being too silly. She also describes how much she leaned on the plot of Pride and Prejudice, as in 1995 it seemed the whole country was watching the BBC adaptation with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy. Bridget eventually finds love with aloof lawyer Mark Darcy, who of course was played by Firth in the film of the novel. With fans from women in their twenties now to others in their fifties who lived the life of Bridget at the time, Helen answers questions about the identity of unmarried women in their thirties in the 1990s, with Bridget feeling as alone as Miss Havisham and how perceptions have changed since; as well as how Bridget would fare in this #MeToo, Instagram image obsessed and internet dating world. Recorded as part of the BBC's BBC Arts year-long celebration of literature, The Books That Shaped Us; and presented by James Naughtie and with a group of readers asking the questions. December's Bookclub choice : Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner (2012) Presented by James Naughtie Produced by Dymphna Flynn

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Colson Whitehead talks about his novel The Underground Railroad with James Naughtie and readers The novel is a devastating and imaginative account of a young slave's bid for freedom from a brutal Georgian plantation in the American South. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast among the slaves and as she approaches womanhood is at greater risk of abuse from the owners. When Caesar, a slave recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to escape to the North Colson Whitehead explains how the history of the Underground Railroad is taught in American schools, although it's a metaphor for the escape networks that ran in the antebellum South, as a child he understood it was real. so in the novel the idea assumes a physical form: a dilapidated boxcar pulled along subterranean tracks by a steam locomotive, picking up fugitives wherever it can At each stop on her journey, Cora encounters a different world, where she must overcome obstacles as she makes her way to true freedom; reflecting, Colson says, the epic journeys from Homer and also Gulliver's Travels. And as Colson Whitehead recreates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, the novel weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a place on Obama’s summer reading list, and was included in Oprah's book club. To take part in future Bookclubs email bookclub@bbc.co.uk Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn November's Bookclub Choice : Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (1996)

Colson Whitehead - The Underground Railroad

Aminatta Forna discusses her novel The Memory of Love with James Naughtie and a group of readers. The Memory of Love has as its background three decades of unrest and violence in Sierra Leone, Aminatta Forna's father's home country and the one where she mostly grew up. The story deals with two sets of relationships, centering around the University teacher Elias Cole fifty years ago, at the time of unrest, and in the early years of this century after the civil war. In 1969 Elias falls in love at first sight with a colleague’s wife, which will affect many around him – her husband, other colleagues, and eventually his psychiatrist Adrian Lockheart who is treating him in the present day. Adrian is the figure who links them all and his investigations into the relationships among all those who’ve experienced war, and are among its victims, is the spine of the story. To take part in future Bookclubs apply at bookclub@bbc.co.uk Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn October's Bookclub Choice : The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2017)

Aminatta Forna - The Memory of Love

Owen Sheers talks about his novel I Saw A Man with James Naughtie and a group of readers at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea. After the sudden loss of his wife, Michael Turner moves from Wales to London to start again. Living on a quiet street in Hampstead, he develops a close bond with the Nelson family next door: Josh, Samantha and their two young daughters. The friendship between Michael and the Nelsons at first seems to offer the prospect of healing, and then one Saturday afternoon in June 2008 Michael steps through the Nelsons’ back door, thinking their house is empty and everything changes. Meanwhile thousands of miles away, just outside of Las Vegas, a man is setting in motion a change of events which eventually come to puncture life on that Hampstead Street. And Michael finds himself bearing the burden of grief and a secret. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn September's Bookclub Choice : The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (2011)

Owen Sheers - I Saw A Man

Gail Honeyman talks about her novel Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine which won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award and has been a runaway success since. Gail was inspired to write her debut novel after reading an article in which a young woman described her lonely life. On the outside, her life was a success, with her own flat and a good job but the reality was she often went home on Friday evening and returned to work on Monday morning without speaking to a soul all weekend. Gail created her own version of this story with the character Eleanor Oliphant, who leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. She speaks to her mother every Wednesday evening on the phone. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. One simple act of kindness shatters the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Gail describes how Eleanor becomes the agent of her own destiny and the change, learning how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted - while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she's avoided all her life. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a heartwarming story about loneliness, loss and the possibility of change. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn August's Bookclub choice : I Saw A Man by Owen Sheers (2015)

Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

David Szalay discusses his novel All That Man Is which was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2016. All That Man Is is a meditation of modern man told through the stories of nine men from across Europe, who are all at different stages of their lives. David says the three ages of man was present in his mind as the nine stories fall naturally into youth, middle age and older age. The characters are seemingly unrelated, and their stories are rooted in a contemporary reality, with David presenting the driving ambitions of each man in various stages of life. As well as the preoccupations of time passing and aging, the book is also about contemporary Europe, with characters in different social settings from Cyprus to Copenhagen, Budapest to Mayfair. The book was published just before the 2016 European Referendum, but David, who currently lives in Budapest, says his aim was not to pass any political judgment, but to describe modern European life as it is. Also important to him was the comic element of men's lives – from obsessions like booze to sex to social status, and how comedy can be redemptive, with incapacity being both funny and sad at the same time. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn July's Bookclub choice : Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)

David Szalay - All That Man Is

Louise Doughty talks about her novel Apple Tree Yard, which went on to be a popular BBC television drama. It is the story of Yvonne, a high-flying married scientist, whose personal life is, by turns, erotic and troubled and, eventually, disastrous. Completely out of character, Yvonne has consensual sex with a stranger in the Palace of Westminster. So begins an affair with a man called Mark which in the end leads them both to the dock of the Old Bailey. Much of the book is told through Yvonne’s unsent emails to Mark. Through them we come to understand Yvonne - the conflicts between her professional and private life, the pressures on her and her family and the horror of an act of violence that becomes the hinge of the story. James Naughtie presents, and a group of readers ask the questions. Presenter: James Naughtie Interviewed guest : Louise Doughty Presenter: Dymphna Flynn June's Bookclub choice : All That Man Is by David Szalay (2016)

Louise Doughty - Apple Tree Yard

Richard Holmes talks about The Age of Wonder, his non-fiction account of the Romantic age, as scientific and artistic thinking began to diverge. In the book he describes the scientific ferment that swept through Britain in the late-18th century and tells the stories of the celebrated innovators and their great scientific discoveries: from telescopic sight and the discovery of Uranus to Humphrey Davy's invention of the miner's safety lamp, and from the first balloon flight to African exploration. Holmes has also written biographies of the poets Coleridge and Shelley and he explains how The Romantics didn't believe in the modern idea that the arts and sciences are two cultures dividing us. The chemist Humphrey Davy wrote poetry and was good friends with Coleridge and they inhaled nitrous oxide gas together as part of Davy's experiments on its properties. Presented by James Naughtie and including questions from an audience of readers. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn May's Bookclub Choice : Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty (2013)

Richard Holmes - The Age of Wonder

Simon Mawer talks about Tightrope, an espionage story featuring the enigmatic agent Marian Sutro which is set during World War II and the years into the Cold War. Tightrope opens as Marian returns to England having survived Ravensbruck concentration camp. She had been parachuted into France by the Special Operations Executive and captured by the Germans in Paris. As peace comes Marian finds it impossible to adjust and find a role for herself. Then, enemies become friends, friends become enemies as an iron curtain is drawn across Europe. Spies are in demand. It is in the clandestine and secret world of the new espionage that Marian finds purpose and is recruited by the Soviet Union. Mawer's evocation of poor, battered post-war London, still a drab city of thick and clammy fogs won praise from critics, who also likened Marian to James Bond – both in terms of bravery and promiscuity. Marian walks the tightrope between the people in her life who have sent her into danger, those whom she must fear, and those she seeks to protect. Tightrope won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction 2016. Presented by James Naughtie and including questions from an audience of readers. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn April's Bookclub Choice : The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes (2008)

Simon Mawer - Tightrope

Alice Oswald, Radio 4's Poet in Residence, discusses her collection Falling Awake which won the Costa Poetry Prize 2016. Falling Awake explores two of Alice Oswald’s recurring preoccupations - with the natural world, and with the myths of more ancient civilizations. Alice studied Classics at university and on graduation became a gardener. Homer, she says, made her a gardener because in the ancient world, the archaic poets create continuity between human beings and our surroundings. The poems in Falling Awake move easily from the observation of the falling rain, or the stealthy tread of a fox through a darkened garden, to the sight of the head of Orpheus floating away on the River Hebron after he's been killed, with his voice still singing as it goes. And, then finally, to Tithonus, a forty-six minute poem written for performance which is a gripping evocation of dawn - again from an idea bequeathed by classical mythology. The poem takes us, as it did one summer as Alice observed the dawn, from the moment when the sun is six degrees below the horizon to the breaking of light. Presented by James Naughtie with readers from the charity Poet in the City asking the questions. Presenter : James Naughtie Producer : Dymphna Flynn March's Bookclub Choice : Tightrope by Simon Mawer (2015)

Alice Oswald - Falling Awake

Jessie Burton discusses The Miniaturist, her debut novel which was the subject of a bidding war between 11 publishers at the 2013 London Book Fair. Set in Amsterdam in 1686–87, the novel was inspired by Petronella Oortman's doll's house which is on display at the Rijksmuseum. Jessie explains how she created her own fictional version of Nella Oortman for the novel. At the age of 18, Nella marries a rich merchant, Johannes Brandt, hoping for love and prosperity. Instead, she enters a world of tensions, secrets and mystery which soon threatens her future. Johannes gives his new wife an extraordinary wedding gift: a miniature replica of their home. As the enigmatic craftswoman delivers more and more miniatures for the cabinet house, its tiny occupants start to mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways. Presented by James Naughtie and recorded with a group of invited readers. Presenter : James Naughtie Interviewed guest : Jessie Burton Producer : Dymphna Flynn February's Bookclub choice : Falling Awake by Alice Oswald

Jessie Burton - The Miniaturist

Led by James Naughtie, a group of readers talk to acclaimed authors about their best-known novels

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