The Radio 2 Book Club

Author Charleen Hurtubise joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to chat about her new novel, 'Saoirse'
They talk about her inspirations for the story, the fine line between dishonesty and reinvention, beekeeping and giving her son's cat a cameo in the book.
We also hear a snippet of the audiobook - and - get a great book recommendation too!
Here's a little bit more about the novel:
In the wilds of Donegal, Ireland, 1999, Saoirse is an artist living an outwardly idyllic life. Her tender husband Daithí and two beloved daughters are regular subjects for her work, and in them she has found the safe home that she has always longed for. She tends not to talk about her past, and those that love her have learned to accept that the full story is too painful for her to disclose.
When her Dublin exhibition unexpectedly wins a prestigious award that invites a swarm of publicity, Saoirse is left panic stricken. The unanticipated recognition threatens to expose a decade's worth of buried memories and past crimes. Because what her family and friends don't know is that Saoirse has been on the run since she was seventeen, she has stolen an identity to survive, and whilst Ireland might now be her home, it wasn't her first - and now her past life is poised to reclaim her.
The novel weaves between flashbacks to a complicated childhood in Michigan, and Saoirse's journey to and in Ireland to forge safety for herself.

Barrister turned author, and recent 'Traitors' star - Harriet Tyce - joins Sara for a chat about her new novel.
She talks about stepping out of her comfort zone and writing a male protagonist, her inspirations for the book and if her time in the Traitors castle has inspired a new story.
Harriet also gives a great book recommendation too.

Bestselling author, Sadeqa Johnson, joins Sara for a natter about her new novel.
'The Keeper Of Lost Children' is a powerful and beautifully told novel about hidden secrets and the hunger to belong. Sadeqa talks about her inspirations for the book, the real-life characters that inspired the story - and why it's so important to write people of colour back into the history books.
We also hear a clip from her audiobook - and - get a cracking book recommendation as well.
Here's the blurb for The Keeper Of Lost Children:
Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI's, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes.
Philadelphia born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever.
In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity.
Toggling between the lives of these three individuals, Keeper of Lost Children explores how one woman's vision will change the course of countless lives, and demonstrates that love in its myriad of forms--familial, parental, and forbidden, even love of self--can be transcendent.

Cressida Cowell (bestselling children's author of the 'How To Train Your Dragon' series) joins Sara for a natter about the joy of reading.
As an ambassador for The National Year Of Reading, Cressida is passionate about getting people reading for pleasure - especially children - and chats to Sara about the various plans in place this year to encourage more people to pick up a book, comic, graphic novel - or even listen to an audiobook.
She also takes us behind the scenes of the filming of 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' which has just started filming!

Libby Page joins Sara in the Book Club to chat about her new novel, "This Book Made Me Think Of You"
They discuss their love of bookshops, the genre they write in and why sometimes we just need a bit to make us smile (and cry a bit maybe?)
Libby talks about her trips to New York and Paris for some of the scenes in this new novel, and her obsession with books about bookshops. She also gives us a brilliant reading recommendation - and - we hear an exclusive extract from her audiobook.
Here's more about Libby's new novel:
When Tilly Nightingale receives a call telling her there’s a birthday gift from her husband waiting for her at her local bookshop, it couldn’t come as more of a shock. Partly, because she can’t remember the last time she read a book for pleasure. Mainly, because Joe died five months ago…
The gift is simple – twelve carefully chosen books from Joe, one for each month, to help her turn the page on her first year without him.
And so begins a reading-inspired journey that takes Tilly around the world; from bustling sidewalks in New York and the tree-lined avenues of Paris to the tranquil Tuscan countryside and the white sands of Bali. With the help of the bookshop owner, Alfie, Tilly starts to discover who she is now, after Joe.
But can Tilly’s year of books show her how to love again?