book reviews radio 4

Welcome to my blog about the books featured on BBC Radio 4

Welcome to my blog page all about the books being featured on BBC Radio 4 programmes. My aim is to provide you with a complete BBC Book at bedtime listing and BBC Radio 4 Book of the week listing  along with any other books featured  with relevant links to where you can find them on Amazon and Audible for example and links to other relevant detailed blog posts. This will give you a chance to post comments and discuss what we are hearing on Radio 4.

Table of Contents

An Immense World by Ed Yong

Published by Bodley Head June 2022 ISBN 9781847926081 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 27 2022

£16.40 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Mother’s Boy by Patrick Gale

Published by Tinder Press March 2022 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 27 2022

£9.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Stranding by Kate Sawyer

Published by Coronet June 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 20 2022

£4.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Black Gold by Jeremy Paxman

Published by William Collins May 2022 ISBN 9780008128364 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 30 2022

£8.39 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Mr Wilder and Me by Jonathan Coe

Published by Penguin November 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 30 2022

Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker

Published by Jonathan Cape May 2022 ISBN 9781787330566 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 09 2022

£14.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Published by Picador November 2014 ISBN 8601410718626 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 06 2022

£7.35 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Nothing But The Truth by the Secret Barrister

Published by Picador May 2022 ISBN 9781529057027 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 25 2022

£13.76 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Preventable by Devi Sridhar

Published by Viking April 2022 ISBN 9780241510537 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 19 2022

£15.54 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

These Days by Lucy Caldwell

Published by Faber & Faber March 2022 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 19 2022

£1.89 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Promise by Damon Galgut

Published by Vintage Digital June 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 15 2022

£5.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures by Paul Fischer

Published by Faber & Faber April 2022 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 11 2022

£6.49 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Passing by Nella Larsen

Published by Signet Book July 2021 ISBN 9780593437841 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 21 2022

£4.49 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Sea Change by Alix Nathan

Published by Serpent’s Tail July 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 07 2022

£3.79 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi

Published by Serpent’s Tail May 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 28 2022

£4.27 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Violets by Alex Hyde

Published by Granta Books February 2022 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 21 2022

£8.96 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing September 2021 ISBN 9781526622433 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 07 2022

£7.00 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi

Published by Penguin June 2022 ISBN 9780141995106 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 31 2022

£8.49 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn

Published by William Collins December 2021 ISBN 9780008329808 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 10 2022

£8.19 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Published by Bloomsbury Paperbacks November 2004 ISBN 0787721995760 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 10 2022

£8.15 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

Published by Penguin Audio October 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 20 2021

£22.74 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

On Seamus Heaney by Roy Foster

Published by Princeton University Press May 2022 ISBN 9780691234045 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 13 2021

£10.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Published by Faber & Faber October 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 13 2021

£5.22 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Wintering by Katherine May

Published by Rider November 2020 ISBN 9781846045998 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 06 2021

Careless by Kirsty Capes

Published by Orion May 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 08 2021

The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart

Published by Sphere March 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 26 2021

£2.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Manifesto by Bernardine Evaristo

Published by Hamish Hamilton October 2021 ISBN 9780241534991 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 18 2021

£8.00 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Published by Fleet September 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 11 2021

£8.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Published by W&N December 2008 ISBN 8601404268908 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 04 2021

£6.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes

Published by Simon & Schuster Children’s UK December 2021 ISBN 9781471194719 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 27 2021

£13.17 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Amur River by Colin Thubron

Published by Chatto & Windus September 2021 ISBN 9781784742874 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 20 2021

£14.36 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Published by Faber & Faber June 2022 ISBN 9780571365449 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 20 2021

£5.00 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff

Published by Persephone Books February 2015 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 14 2021

£7.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Daughters of Kobani, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Published by Swift Press May 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 07 2021

£8.54 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Fortnight in September, by RC Sherriff

Published by Persephone Books February 2015 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 07 2021

Sunshine and Laughter by Louis Barfe

Published by Apollo July 2021 ISBN 9781838933371 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 30 2021

£15.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

News of the Dead by James Robertson

Published by Hamish Hamilton August 2021 ISBN 9780241401996 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 23 2021

£13.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Hello, Stranger by Will Buckingham

Published by Granta Books June 2022 ISBN 9781783785667 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 19 2021

£7.89 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Hamilton and Me by Giles Terera

Published by Nick Hern Books July 2021 ISBN 9781848429994 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 09 2021

£13.25 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

Published by Vintage Digital May 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 09 2021

£0.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake

Published by Mudlark July 2020 ISBN 9780008377267 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 02 2021

Mistresses by Linda Porter

Published by Picador April 2021 ISBN 9781509877072 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 26 2021

Still Life by Sarah Winman

Published by Fourth Estate March 2022 ISBN 9780008283391 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 26 2021

Bullfight by Yasushi Inoue

Published by Pushkin Press September 2013 ISBN 9781782270003 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 19 2021

£12.00 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Madman’s Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching

Published by Simon & Schuster UK October 2020 ISBN 9781471166914 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 12 2021

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

Published by Faber & Faber May 2016 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 08 2021

£5.59 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Nature Cure by Richard Mabey

Published by Vintage Digital November 2011 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 05 2021

£3.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Published by Vintage Classics October 2004 ISBN 9780099478478 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 05 2021

Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper

Published by riverrun October 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 28 2021

Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

Published by Vintage Classics February 2014 ISBN 9780099583455 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 22 2021

£9.34 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore

Published by Penguin October 2007 ISBN 9780141033600 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 21 2021

The Devil You Know by Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne

Published by Faber & Faber June 2022 ISBN 9780571357628 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 14 2021

£7.49 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Young Prince Philip by Philip Eade

Published by William The 4th March 2022 ISBN 9780007305391 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 07 2021

The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam

Published by Canongate Books June 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 07 2021

£4.74 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing August 2018 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 06 2021

£2.29 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Natives: Race & Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala

Published by Two Roads March 2019 ISBN 9781473661233 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 31 2021

£7.37 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim

Published by Independently published July 2020 ISBN 9798666810934 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 31 2021

£5.20 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

How I Learned To Understand The World by Hans Rosling

Published by Sceptre November 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 17 2021

Snowflake by Louise Nealon

Published by Manilla Press May 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 17 2021

£4.28 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The King’s Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein by Franny Moyle

Published by Apollo May 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 03 2021

£4.79 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Published by Penguin September 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 02 2021

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

Published by Quercus April 2022 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 19 2021

The Musical Human by Michael Spitzer

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing April 2022 ISBN 9781526602787 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 05 2021

£9.94 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan

Published by Merky Books Digital January 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 05 2021

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Published by Windmill Books November 2017 ISBN 9780099558781 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 04 2021

Lev’s Violin by Helena Attlee

Published by Penguin June 2022 ISBN 9780141991078 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 29 2021

£8.29 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

One Two Three Four – The Beatles In Time by Craig Brown

Published by Fourth Estate April 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 22 2021

White Fang by Jack London

Published by OUP Oxford February 2009 ISBN 9780199538898 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 22 2021

£5.39 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Photographer at Sixteen by George Szirtes

Published by MacLehose Press February 2020 ISBN 9780857058553 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 15 2021

£7.43 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion by Kei Miller

Published by Carcanet Press Ltd May 2014 ISBN 9781847772671 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 07 2021

£7.85 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Slow Rise: A Bread-Making Adventure by Robert Penn

Published by Particular Books February 2021 ISBN 9780241352083 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 01 2021

£13.69 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay

Published by Faber & Faber February 2021 ISBN 9780571362929 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 22 2021

£6.58 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson July 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 22 2021

Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston

Published by Penguin Audio February 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 08 2021

Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford

Published by Faber & Faber February 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 08 2021

The Wych Elm by Tana French

Published by Penguin February 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 07 2021

Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle

Published by Granta Books February 2022 ISBN 9781783785407 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 01 2021

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Published by Penguin September 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 25 2021

English Pastoral by James Rebanks

Published by Penguin September 2021 ISBN 9780141982571 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 18 2021

If Then by Jill Lepore

Published by John Murray June 2021 ISBN 9781529386172 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 12 2021

£8.48 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Snow And The Works On The Northern Line by Ruth Thomas

Published by Sandstone Press January 2021 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 12 2021

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Published by Faber & Faber February 2010 ISBN 9780571258093 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 03 2021

In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming

Published by Penguin Classics May 2017 ISBN 9780241296066 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 28 2020

An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe

Published by Penguin November 2017 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 21 2020

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Published by Canongate Books February 2021 ISBN 9781786892737 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 07 2020

£4.50 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Legend of a Suicide by David Vann

Published by Penguin October 2009 ISBN 9780141043784 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from December 06 2020

The Boundless Sea by David Abulafia

Published by Penguin October 2020 ISBN 9780241956274 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 30 2020

£12.76 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

My American by Stella Gibbons

Published by Vintage Digital November 2011 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 30 2020

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Published by Vintage September 2021 ISBN 9781784708276 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 23 2020

Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter

Published by Faber & Faber August 2016 ISBN 9780571327232 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 23 2020

£6.29 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazareesingh

Published by Penguin September 2021 ISBN 9780141985060 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 16 2020

The Sanest Guy in the Room by Don Black

Published by Constable June 2021 ISBN 9781472132949 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 03 2020

£5.49 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Order of the Day by Eric Vuillard

Published by Picador January 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 02 2020

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Published by Oneworld Publications March 2019 ISBN 9781786075192 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from November 01 2020

The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing September 2021 ISBN 9781408895474 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 26 2020

The Good Germans by Catrine Clay

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson September 2021 ISBN 9781474607896 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 12 2020

£6.42 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Housing Lark by Sam Selvon

Published by Penguin Classics August 2020 ISBN 9780241441329 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 05 2020

£7.15 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor

Published by Vintage Digital January 2011 ISBN 9780099563099 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from October 04 2020

Agent Sonya by Ben MacIntyre

Published by Penguin May 2021 ISBN 9780241986950 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 28 2020

£6.00 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Dear Life by Rachel Clarke

Published by Abacus September 2020 ISBN 9780349143934 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 21 2020

The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson

Published by Faber & Faber March 2017 ISBN 9780571234875 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 21 2020

Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick

Published by Granta Books July 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 14 2020

No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

Published by Everyman March 2010 ISBN 9781841593272 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 14 2020

£12.22 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Ramble Book by Adam Buxton

Published by Mudlark May 2021 ISBN 9780008293338 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 07 2020

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Published by Atlantic Books September 2019 ISBN 9781786495983 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from September 06 2020

Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden

Published by John Murray May 2021 ISBN 9781529378771 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 31 2020

£9.21 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

Published by Europa Editions July 2021 ISBN 9781787703124 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 31 2020

The Miller’s Dance by Winston Graham

Published by Pan August 2011 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 18 2020

The Oak Papers by James Canton

Published by Canongate Books June 2021 ISBN 9781838851514 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from August 03 2020

£8.69 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Actress by Anne Enright

Published by Vintage Digital February 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 27 2020

A Month In Siena by Hisham Matar

Published by Penguin August 2020 ISBN 9780241987056 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 13 2020

£7.78 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré

Published by Sceptre October 2020 ISBN 9781529359275 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 13 2020

£2.50 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Under Red Skies by Karoline Kan

Published by C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd May 2019 ISBN 9781787381759 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 06 2020

£20.00 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow

Published by Pan November 2013 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from July 05 2020

The Boy With Two Hearts by Hamed Amiri

Published by Icon Books February 2021 ISBN 9781785787133 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 29 2020

£9.26 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Brixton Hill by Lottie Moggach

Published by Corsair July 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 29 2020

Difficult Women by Helen Lewis

Published by Vintage March 2021 ISBN 9781784709730 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 23 2020

The Bells of Old Tokyo by Anna Sherman

Published by Picador June 2020 ISBN 9781529000498 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 15 2020

Emma by Jane Austen

Published by Amazon Deluxe October 2012 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 15 2020

Crossing the Line by John Sutherland

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson May 2021 ISBN 9781474612371 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from June 08 2020

£6.83 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty

Published by Ebury Digital November 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 30 2020

£1.99 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Diary of a Young Naturalist, by Dara McAnulty

Published by Ebury Digital November 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 25 2020

Amongst Women, by John McGahern

Published by Faber & Faber June 2008 ISBN 9780571225644 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 18 2020

£7.19 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Fall of the House of Byron by Emily Brand

Published by John Murray April 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 11 2020

Broken Greek, by Pete Paphides

Published by Quercus June 2021 ISBN 9781529404449 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 07 2020

£6.02 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Street, by Ann Petry

Published by Virago December 2019 ISBN 9780349012933 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 04 2020

£7.74 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit

Published by Granta May 2014 ISBN 9781847085122 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from May 03 2020

£9.79 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Crossriggs, by Jane and Mary Findlater

Published by Penguin USA (Paper) TBC ISBN 9780140161281 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from April 20 2020

£47.95 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Shakespeare in a Divided America, by James Shapiro

Published by Faber & Faber March 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 16 2020

The Mirror and the Light, by Hilary Mantel

Published by Fourth Estate March 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 16 2020

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

Published by Independently published December 2019 ISBN 9781673349511 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 10 2020

Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes

Published by Penguin May 2005 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from March 01 2020

The Crying Book, by Heather Christle

Published by Corsair November 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 24 2020

Apeirogon, by Colum McCann

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing February 2021 ISBN 9781526607898 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 24 2020

To the Lake, by Kapka Kassabova

Published by Granta Publications Ltd February 2021 ISBN 9781783783984 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 17 2020

How to Argue with a Racist, by Adam Rutherford

Published by W&N February 2021 ISBN 9781474611251 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 10 2020

£6.09 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Secret Guests, by BW Black

Published by Penguin Audio February 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 10 2020

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

Published by Sort of Books September 2019 ISBN 9781908745811 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 07 2020

The Second Sleep, by Robert Harris

Published by Cornerstone Digital September 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 07 2020

The People’s Act of Love by James Meek

Published by Canongate Canons November 2008 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from February 02 2020

Motherwell by Deborah Orr

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson January 2020 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 27 2020

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

Published by Cornerstone Digital September 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 27 2020

Why Women Read Fiction by Helen Taylor’

Published by OUP Oxford December 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 13 2020

£6.41 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

Coming Up for Air by George Orwell

Published by Biblioteka June 2022 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 13 2020

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Published by Vintage Digital September 2011 ISBN 9780099554790 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 05 2020

Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James

Published by Picador January 2015 ISBN 9781447275480 Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 03 2020

£7.29 as of June 30 at 07:08, please click here to see the latest price & availablity and for more details.

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

Published by Penguin and David Fickling Books October 2019 ISBN TBC Featured on BBC Radio Four, from January 03 2020

John McGahernm Amongst Women

‘A book that can be read in two hours, but will linger in the mind for decades.’ Sunday Telegraph

Once an officer in the Irish War for Independence, Moran is now a widower, eking out a living on a small farm where he raises his two sons and three daughters. Adrift from the structure and security of the military, he keeps control by binding his family close to him. But as his children grow older and seek independence, and as the passing years bring with them bewildering change, Moran struggles to find a balance between love and tyranny.

‘One of the greatest writers of our era.’ Hilary Mantel

‘John McGahern is the Irish novelist everyone should read.’ Colm Tóibín

Click here to find this title on Amazon.

Motherwell: A Girlhood by Deborah Orr

Book of the week January 27th 2020 Read by Siobhan Redmond Abridger by Julian Wilkinson

The late journalist Deborah Orr was born and bred in the Scottish steel town of Motherwell, in the west of Scotland. Growing up the product of a mixed marriage, with an English mother, she was often a child on the edge of her working class community, a ‘weird child’, who found solace in books, nature and in her mother’s company. But her mother’s shadow was long and often controlling – Deborah was not always mothered well.

In her powerful and poignant memoir Deborah Orr explores the effects of her strict parenting and her own strong desire for independence and autonomy which led her to flee her roots, first to St Andrews University, with mixed results, and then to her hugely successful career as a journalist and writer in London. She also paints a vivid portrait of the place and the community around the steel works of Ravenscraig – the hub of her world in the sixties and seventies.

‘Motherwell is razor-sharp, fearless and wonderful’ Adam Kay

‘Utterly unflinching and staggeringly good, both as the history of a woman and the history of a place’ India Knight  

Freelance science writer Sadie Dingfelder is the author of the new book Do I Know You? , which explores human sight, memory and imagination. Little, Brown Spark, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company hide caption

The human brain is hardwired to recognize faces. But what if you can't?

June 26, 2024 • Humans are hardwired to see faces — even in inanimate objects. We have a lima bean-shaped part of our brains dedicated to facial recognition. But this process isn't always straightforward. Science journalist Sadie Dingfelder is one of 10 million Americans who are face blind, or struggle to recognize the faces of people they know. In her new book, Do I Know You? she dives into this, as well as the science of memory and imagination.

Code Switch

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in america.

June 26, 2024 • Author Mike Curato wrote Flamer as a way to help young queer kids, like he once was, better understand and accept themselves. It was met with immediate praise and accolades — until it wasn't. When the book got caught up in a wave of Texas-based book bans, suddenly the narrative changed. And like so many books that address queer identity, Flamer quickly became a flashpoint in a long, messy culture war that tried to distort the nature of the book.

Maureen Corrigan picks four crime and suspense novels for the summer. NPR hide caption

4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading

June 25, 2024 • There’s something about the shadowy moral recesses of crime and suspense fiction that makes those genres especially appealing as temperatures soar. Here are four novels that turn the heat up.

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'Cue the Sun!' is a riveting history of reality TV

June 25, 2024 • Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorke r critic Emily Nussbaum's book is a near-definitive history of the genre that forever changed American entertainment.

Ferris Jabr's book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life examines the ways life and Earth have shaped each other. Lucas Heinrich/Random House hide caption

Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"

June 24, 2024 • About ten years ago, science writer Ferris Jabr started contemplating Earth as a living planet rather than a planet with life on it . It began when he learned that the Amazon rainforest doesn't simply receive the rain that defines it; rather, it helps generate that rain. The Amazon does that by launching bits of biological confetti into the atmosphere that, in turn, seed clouds. After learning this, he began looking for other ways life changes its environment. That led to his new book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life . He talks to host Regina G. Barber about examples of life transforming the planet — from changing the color of the sky to altering the weather.

Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"

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In 'Parade,' Rachel Cusk once again flouts traditional narrative

June 20, 2024 • In her latest work, Cusk probes questions about the connections between freedom, gender, domesticity, art, and suffering.

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2 books offer just the right summer mix of humor and nostalgia

June 20, 2024 • Catherine Newman's novel Sandwich centers on a woman vacationing with her young adult children and her elderly parents. Julie Satow’s When Women Ran Fifth Avenue profiles three NYC department stores.

The main exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Friday June 14, 2024. Jared Soares for NPR hide caption

All Things Considered

Much ado about first folios — the world's largest shakespeare collection reopens.

June 19, 2024 • The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is emerging from a four-year metamorphosis. Eighty-two copies of Shakespeare’s “First Folio” will be together on public display for the first time.

Author Jules Gill-Peterson poses next to her book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny Headshot by Kadji Amin and book cover design by Angela Lorenzo for Verso hide caption

The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

June 19, 2024 • As anti-trans legislation has ramped up, historian Jules Gill-Peterson turns the lens to the past in her book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny . This week, we talk about how panics around trans femininity are shaped by wider forces of colonialism, segregation and class interests.

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on June 3. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Health Care

Why anthony fauci approaches every trip to the white house as if it's his last.

June 18, 2024 • Over the course of his decades-long career in public health, Fauci vowed he would never shy away from speaking the truth with the U.S. president— even when it was inconvenient. Fauci's memoir is On Call.

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It's Been a Minute

Carvell wallace searches for 'another word for love'.

June 18, 2024 • In his new memoir, Another Word for Love, Carvell Wallace lays out his journey to find self-acceptance after a childhood colored by instability. Host Brittany Luse sits down with Carvell to talk about how he built new language around love and his new perspectives on recovery and healing.

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Books We Love

Here are the nonfiction books npr staffers have loved so far this year.

June 17, 2024 • We asked around the newsroom to find favorite nonfiction from the first half of 2024. We've got biography and memoir, health and science, history, sports and much more.

Summer BWL Nonfiction

NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2024

June 17, 2024 • At work: hardworking news journalists. At home: omnivorous fiction readers. We asked our colleagues what they've enjoyed most this year and here are the titles they shared.

'Satchel' recalls the iconic pitcher who helped integrate Major League Baseball

June 14, 2024 • Hall of Famer Satchel Paige started his career pitching in the Negro leagues and later became a major league star. Author Larry Tye tells his story in  Satchel. Originally broadcast in 2010.

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'Horror Movie' questions the motivation behind evil acts

June 12, 2024 • Paul Tremblay's latest tale is dark, surprisingly violent, and incredibly multilayered — a superb addition to his already impressive oeuvre showing he can deliver for fans and also push the envelope.

In the episode "From Virgin to Vixen,” Queenie is in peak fun mode, until her demons begin to catch up with her. Latoya Okuneye/Lionsgate hide caption

Queenie's second life on screen gives her more room to grow

June 11, 2024 • An irresistible new Hulu series follows the quarter-life growing pains of a lonely South Londoner. It's based on a 2019 novel by showrunner Candice Carty-Williams.

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In 'Consent,' an author asks: 'Me too? Did I have the agency to consent?'

June 10, 2024 • Jill Ciment wrote about a relationship she had with a teacher when she was very young – that turned into a marriage – in Half a Life . Now, eight years after his death at 93, she reconsiders their relationship in light of the #MToo movement.

Librarian Sabrina Jesram arranges a display of books during Banned Books Week at a public library branch in New York City on Sept. 23, 2022. Ted Shaffrey/AP hide caption

Book News & Features

What’s a book ban anyway depends on who you ask.

June 10, 2024 • The term "book ban" is used a lot in media and elsewhere when addressing the rise in challenges to certain books being allowed in schools and public libraries. But is it more political hyperbole or a censorship alarm bell?

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'Forgotten on Sunday' evokes the heartwarming whimsy of the movie 'Amélie'

June 8, 2024 • Like her other books, French writer Valérie Perrin's third novel to be translated into English, centers on the life-changing magic of friendships across generations.

The cover art of Sam Forster's book, Seven Shoulders: Taxonomizing Racism in Modern America . ‎ ‎/Slaughterhouse Media hide caption

With Maybelline Mocha and an Afro wig, white author explores 'Blackness' in a new book

June 7, 2024 • Reactions have been brutal to Canadian writer Sam Forster, who disguised himself as a Black man and traveled the U.S. to document how racism persists in society.

Kyne wearing her hyperbolic plane dress. Author photo by Fabian Di Corcia. Fabian Di Corcia/Fabian Di Corcia hide caption

Drag queen Kyne Santos explores how math is 'beautiful' in new book 'Math in Drag'

June 7, 2024 • Kyne Santos was a student at the University of Waterloo when she began her math and her drag careers. She compares her double life to Hannah Montana, doing math equations at school by day and drag at night. You may already know Kyne from TikTok, where she makes educational videos about math, science, history and drag. And now, in her new book Math in Drag , Kyne explores the connections between math and drag: How both can be creative, beautiful and most of all, fun.

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In 'Fire Exit,' a father grapples with connection and the meaning of belonging

June 6, 2024 • Morgan Talty's debut novel is a touching narrative about family in which the past and present are constantly on the page as we follow a man's life, while also entertaining what that life could have been.

An abstract 3d cloud model in the bedroom. (3d render) Eoneren/Getty Images/E+ hide caption

7 surprising facts about dreams -- why we have them and what they mean

June 2, 2024 • Dreaming is often misunderstood. But in a new book, a neuroscientist argues that it’s one of the most vital functions of the human brain, and just about anyone can tap into dreams’ insights.

For 'Such Kindness' novelist Andre Dubus III, chronic pain is a fact of life

May 31, 2024 • Dubus talks about the injuries he faced as a carpenter and his relationship with his dad. His a new collection of personal essays is Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin. Originally broadcast in 2023.