Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

Journalist and author, John Lanchester, joins Simon and Matt to chat about his new darkly comic novel, 'Look What You Made Me Do'
They dissect the characters in the novel, explore house ownership in the 90s versus owning property now and look at inter-generational tensions.
John also talks about being an 'outsider' and writing from the perspective of having lots of different flags to wave.
'Look What You Made Me do' is one of Simon's favourite books of the year - and we hope you love it too!

Booker Prize winning author, Yann Martel, joins Simon and Matt for a bit of Q&A.
He reveals his quirky writing routine, who he'd invite to his fantasy dinner party - and - gives us some great book recommendations too.
We also surprise him with a question from fellow author and Booker shortlistee, Tan Twan Eng.

Booker Prize winning author, Yann Martel, chats to Simon and Matt about his new novel 'Son Of Nobody'.
They talk about The Iliad - one of his inspirations behind the book - as well as how we understand ancient history in 2026, and how we should tell those stories.
The novel explores how stories become facts, the price we pay to share them and how we live – then, now and always.
Here's a little more info on 'Son Of Nobody'

Harlow Donne has devoted his life to the Classical world. When a chance comes up to study an obscure collection of papyrus fragments at Oxford University, he seizes it. Though it means leaving his daughter and fracturing marriage back home in Canada, this is the kind of career break he desperately needs.

In the depths of the Bodleian Library, Harlow discovers a lost account of the Trojan War, a glimpse into the founding of Western civilization itself. He names the epic poem The Psoad, after its protagonist, a Greek commoner identified as Psoas of Midea but known to all as ‘son of nobody’.

As sole translator and interpreter of the Psoad, Harlow dedicates the poem and its modern footnotes to his daughter, Helen. Under his gaze, the text unlocks echoes of Ancient Greece into the present day, and a personal message to his beloved child appears. Despite the three-thousand-year gap between the two, a thread hasn’t frayed: the universal song of homesickness and regret, of ambition and grief.

Author Francis Spufford joins Simon and Matt for a natter about his processes, favourite authors, the ordering of his bookshelves and much more.
We also learn who he'd invite to his fantasy dinner party!

Francis Spufford joins Simon and Matt for a natter about his new novel, 'Nonesuch'. They talk about his fascination with The Blitz, his inspirations for the fantasmical parts of the story and how he melded two genres together.
They also discuss craft, research, bending history - and the finished manuscript sitting on his computer which he isn't allowed to publish until 2034.
Here's a little more about the novel:
It's the summer of 1939. London is on the brink of catastrophic war. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman in the stuffy world of City finance, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a technical whizz at the BBC's nascent television unit.
What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into an adventure of otherworldly pursuit - into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes overhead. But Iris has more to contend with than the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand.
And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.