Book Off!

Justin Currie - lead singer of Del Amitri - and Debsey Wykes - frontwoman of Dolly Mixture - join Joe for a natter about their memoirs, music, writing, forgotten histories and much more.

Justin talks about touring America, then and now, how the US took Del Amitri under their wings and, essentially, helped him buy a house!

Debsey talks about touring with The Undertones and U2, keeping an archive - and writing to remember.

They also recommend us some brilliant books that they have enjoyed recently!

THE BOOK OFF
'The Haunting Of Hill House' by Shirley Jackson
VS
'Train Dreams' by Denis Johnson

Here's a little more info on our guest's memoirs:

'The Tremelo Diaries' by Justin Currie
It’s 2022 and we join Justin at the doctor’s office, looking down the barrel of a Parkinson’s diagnosis. After concerned fans noticed a tremor in his hand, Currie sought the medical advice which led him to the discovery that would throw his future into uncertainty.

The immediate fallout of his diagnosis is laid bare in Currie’s candid, stream of consciousness voice. A voice that is also by turns poetic, self-deprecating and darkly humorous across a series of diary entries that capture Justin’s innermost feelings ― part travelogue, part confessional.

Following a coming to terms with the situation whilst on tour in the U.S, the second half of the story joins Currie in 2024, supporting Simple Minds on tour with Del Amitri. Anger, heartbreak and a looming sense of finality concoct a terse relationship between what once was and what may never be. Yet, page after page, what prevails is the achingly perfect timing of his acerbic wit.

The Tremolo Diaries is a beautiful and unique meditation on illness and aging. It is a twilight years reflection on band life in the 21st Century. It’s a travelogue around the world’s art galleries, parks, bars and sites of natural beauty. And most importantly, it is about love and friendship, adversity and courage, life and loss.

In a first-of-its-kind exploration of Parkinson’s by a multi-platinum selling musician, The Tremolo Diaries looks the dramatic irony of Currie’s affliction in the eye, puts down the guitar, and returns the needle to the start of the song.

'Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls That Play In The Band' by Debsey Wykes
Debsey Wykes' memoir is a vivid coming-of-age story from one of the UK’s earliest female post-punk musicians. As bassist and vocalist in cult trio Dolly Mixture, Wykes was thrown into the male-dominated music world of the late 1970s, brushing against fame with an unlikely No.1 hit alongside Captain Sensible before finding long-term acclaim through her work with Saint Etienne.

Told with charm and defiance, the book revisits a youth shaped by DIY ethics, schoolgirl friendship, and the thrill of performance. It features appearances from key figures of the era — including Paul Weller, Madness, and The Pogues — and captures the spirit of a scene where handmade hula skirts met Top of the Pops.

Now performing with both Saint Etienne and her group Birdy, Wykes reflects on the enduring appeal of Dolly Mixture, whose reissues remain in high demand. Teenage Daydream is a rare, first-hand account of a woman forging her path through punk’s golden age.
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Two authors go head to head in a war of the words!

This week - Laura Evans and Pip Landers-Letts join Joe Haddow for a natter.

They chat about writing sapphic fiction, big skies, eerie landscapes, the Amazon Kindle Storyteller Award...and the joys of writing in Ikea!

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Multi-million selling superstar author, Ken Follett, returns to Book Off and goes head to head in a war of the words with author and artist Amy Jeffs.

Ken discusses his latest novel 'Circle Of Days' and his fascination with Stonehenge. He talks about the challenges of writing in different historic periods, deep research and how to turn lots of factual information into a brilliantly engaging, page-turning novel.

Amy chats about her book 'Old Songs', and her fascination with folk songs and ballads. Amy steeped herself in medieval history and has studied this period and the songs of this time extensively.

The two guests also give us some brilliant book recommendations - and Ken tells about his short-lived comedy writing career in the 70s!

THE BOOK OFF
'The Man Of Property' by John Galsworthy
VS
'Moonfleet' by J. Meade Falkner

But which one will win?

Here's a little more info on our guests' books:

'Circle Of Days' by Ken Follett
A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT

Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Rite, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family lives in prosperity and offers Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers, within their herder community.

A PRIESTESS WHO BELIEVES THE IMPOSSIBLE

Joia, Neen's sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain.

A MONUMENT THAT WILL DEFINE A CIVILISATION

Joia's vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life's work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders - and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare . . .

'Old Songs' by Amy Jeffs and Gwen Burns
Old Songs fuses short stories, histories, lyrics and illustrations in an enthralling reimagining of traditional folk ballads. Sunday Times Bestselling historian Amy Jeffs and Illustrator Gwen Burns combine forces to create a rich compendium, singing of travel, mystery, magic and the essential urges of humanity.

Featuring iterations of fairy tales and sinister descendants of Greek myths and bible stories, as well as a cast of lesser-known characters with names like Tam Lim, Child Wynd and Maisery, Old Songs threads a tapestry of Britain's landscape, history and cultures. At the base of hills we can visit to this day, elf queens kidnap hapless poets and carry them through rivers of blood; and at the foot of a tree whose offspring still stand in the forests of Northumberland, a girl mimes combing the hairless head of a dragon who was once her brother.

In spellbinding tales of brown-skinned girls who danced on their lovers' graves, of golden-masted ships captained by the Devil, of fiddles that cried "Murder!", of men kidnapped by fairies and boys married at fourteen, we find narrative motifs as ancient as humanity itself.

In the histories interconnecting the stories, we find the fantastical rooted in the everyday, bringing to light the real experiences of great swathes of people to whom such story-songs were not only familiar, but a way of escaping into the extraordinary and returning gratefully home. Bringing enchantment to familiar landscapes, ballads were created anew by each singer and passed down from fireside to fireside, at the knees of childhood nurses, in manuscripts and in early printed pamphlets. Now, ten stories are gathered here, beautifully recreated for modern readers.
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Women’s Prize shortlisted author, Lily King, and previous Women's Prize winner, Tayari Jones, join Joe for this week’s Book Off!

They discuss their new novels, co-parenting Koalas, Ann Patchett, lovers, desire, chosen family, female friendship, mothers, Oprah and the many many forms of love.

We LOVED this chat - and hope you do too!

THE BOOK OFF
'The Transit Of Venus' by Shirley Hazzard
VS
'Song Of Solomon' by Toni Morrison

And here's a little more info on our guests' new novels:

'Kin' by Tayari Jones
A yearning for their missing mothers pulls Vernice and Annie apart. It will take a devastating tragedy to bring them back together.
Vernice and Annie are 'cradle friends', born days apart in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, both destined never to know their mothers. The girls are inseparable, bound by a friendship far deeper than sisterhood. But this is the American south in the 1950s. Black girls like Vernice and Annie have to fight for every opportunity they can, and neither one can build the future they hope for in Honeysuckle.

Gradually, inevitably, the girls drift apart. Vernice pursues her education; Annie is lured by the promise of a heady first love affair and a growing obsession with finding her mother. But her search pulls her even further into a world of danger that soon leaves her oldest friend battling to save her.

'Heart The Lover' by Lily King
Our narrator understands good love stories - their secrets, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the rules.

She was in her senior year of college when star students Sam and Yash swept her into an intoxicating world of academic fervour, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. Their lives became quickly intertwined - with friendship but also with unpredictable passions and the intimations of first love.

Decades later, she is a successful writer, living a comfortable life with her husband and children, when a surprise visit brings the past crashing into the present, forcing her to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth.

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Authors Ava Glass and Anna Mazzola go head to head in a war of the words - pitting a book they love and think that everyone should read against each other in The Book Off!

They also chat to Joe Haddow about their new novels, the corrupt world of billionaires (and their exclusive ski resorts), haunted houses, spies, writing inspirations - and - why writers have pseudonyms.

They also give us some great book recommendations too.

THE BOOK OFF
'The Thirteenth Tale' by Diane Setterfield
VS
'The Likeness' by Tana French

Which one do YOU think should win? Find out which Joe picks on the latest episode.

Remember you can follow and subscribe on Spotify and Apple - and follow us on instagram and bluesky!

Here's a little more info on our guests new novels!

'The Hiding Season' by Ava Glass (AC Glass)
Maya Landry is in desperate need of a fresh start.
Alone and heartbroken, she finds work as a caretaker at an exclusive ski resort for the elite in the mountains of Montana. Quiet and empty in the summer months, it's the perfect escape.
All Maya wants is to be alone. But she's not alone on the mountain. Someone else is there. A killer with his next victim in his sights.
After Maya finds a body, she must run for her life. One man tells her that he can save her. But can she trust him? Is he everything he claims to be?
Only one thing is certain: the killer will stop at nothing. And Maya is the only witness to their crime . . .

'Notes On A Drowning' by Anna Mazzola (Anna Sharpe)
Alex knows she risks getting fired from her law firm if she takes on another unpaid case, but when she hears Rosa's desperate voice at the other end of the phone, she knows she has to help: the body of Rosa's shy teenage sister, Natalia, has been dragged, lifeless, from the Thames. Alex can't help but think of her own missing little sister. She knows how a lack of answers can eat you alive.

Kat has worked hard to become Special Adviser to the Home Secretary, and is eager to finally put the dark and tragic part of her past behind her. But when she discovers a series of cover-ups, she begins to wonder whether her seemingly perfect new boss could be involved. Then she's shocked to discover a letter that raises worrying questions about a girl found drowned in London... Natalia.

There are complex and painful reasons for Alex and Kat not to work together, but when it becomes clear that there are powerful people involved in Natalia's death, and that other girls are at risk, Alex and Kat must overcome their differences to find answers. Will they save the girls and discover the truth? Or will the high-powered players in this game stop Alex and Kat for good?
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