Gaia’s Library Podcast

Francesca Catlow
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Each month, international bestselling author Francesca Catlow, will interview an author. For those of you in the Book Club, this is the author who wrote the mystery book featured that month. By becoming a member, you'll be able to submit your questions as you read the books and Francesca will do her best to ask as many as she can in her podcast. Not only that, but she'll be asking them about their own insight into their novel, what inspired them to write it, and the journey they have been on as an author. Basically, all the questions you're dying to ask your new favourite author!

Episodes

  1. Jul 23

    Gaia’s Library Episode 11 - The Diary of Isabella M Smugge

    Francesca Catlow (https://www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Ruth Leigh (https://www.ruthleighwrites.co.uk) about her novel The Diary of Isabella M Smugge for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Blurb: Meet Isabella Smugge - as in 'Br-uge-s', naturally! Instagram influencer, consummate show-off and endearingly self-unaware. With a palatial home, charming husband and three well-mannered children, she is living the Country Life dream. Newly arrived in the country, Isabella is ready to bring a dash of London glamour to the school gate and gain a whole new set of followers - though getting past the instant coffee, terrible hair and own-brand sausage rolls may be a challenge! But as her Latvian au pair's behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre and a national gossip columnist nurses a grudge, Isabella finds herself in need of true friends and begins to wonder if her life really is as picture-perfect as she thought...

  2. Jun 23

    Gaia’s Library Episode 10 - Court of Ravens and Ruin

    Francesca Catlow (https://www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Eliza Raine (https://www.elizaraine.com) about her novel Court of Ravens and Ruin for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Blurb: A defiant human woman. A dark fae Prince. Two enemies bound to a marriage that could destroy their world. Reyna was born a valuable slave to the Gold Court, imprisoned her whole life in a glittering palace by sadistic, greedy fae. When the palace is raided, she takes her opportunity to escape. But the raid is led by her worst nightmare. The Prince of the most feared fae of all; the Shadow Court. And he wants one thing. Her. The copper-haired, rune-marked human. Reyna doesn’t know why the Prince has kidnapped her. But when he announces her as his betrothed, she knows that she must escape before she is eternally bound to the monster behind the mask. Only, when he takes the mask off, he isn’t what she expects. He’s lethal, beautiful and exudes sin. And he needs her. Drawn into a deadly world shrouded in secrets, and desperate to keep her own hidden, Reyna must find a way out. If she doesn’t, she risks more than just death. She risks giving everything to her intoxicating captor. This is the first book in the Shadow Bound Queen series, and is inspired by Norse mythology and Vikings. Sexy fae Vikings. It has Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast vibes, and is slow-burn enemies to lovers fantasy romance with a burn-the-world-down-for-her hero. The series builds in steam and is filled with magic, myth, and delicious tension.

  3. May 21

    Gaia’s Library Episode 9 - A Love Like No Other by Kate Frost

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Kate Frost (https://www.kate-frost.co.uk) about her novel A Love Like No Other for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. All Pippa Green has ever wanted is marriage and kids. But at thirty-four and about to embark on IVF, her dream of having a family is far from certain. Pippa’s younger sister Georgie has the opposite problem. Juggling her career, her lover, a young daughter and a husband who wants baby number two, she seems to have it all. But does she? Carefree Sienna, Pippa’s best friend, is happy travelling the world with her successful career in film, however, long term boyfriend Ashton is desperate for Sienna to commit to their future. But when mother nature throws them a surprise, will it make or break them? Happily married Connie shares her fertility journey with Pippa. While their blossoming friendship is cemented through the highs and lows of shared experiences, Connie underestimates the impact that being unable to conceive will have on her and her marriage. As their lives collide in a way they could never have predicted, will any of them find lasting happiness?

  4. Apr 27

    Gaia’s Library Episode 8 - Chatterley by Cara Clare

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Cara Clare (www.caraclare.com) about her novel Chatterley for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: What if the most scandalous romance ever told was rewritten as a dark, feminist romantasy? Sir Clifford Chatterley turned me into a vampire to prove a theory - that feral creatures like me could be domesticated, civilised, and made acceptable for his aristocratic world. He keeps me chained and starved, drowning my hunger in silver and ash while he moulds me into the perfect Progeny wife. But his gamekeeper sees something different when he looks at me. Oliver Mellors doesn't want to tame me. He wants to unleash me. In the dark woods beyond Wragby Hall, he teaches me to hunt. To feed. To feel. He shows me that the wildness my husband is trying to suppress isn't shameful - it's my power. Between the lord who wants to break me and the vampire who wants to free me, I discover a hunger that has nothing to do with blood. And everything to do with taking back what's mine. My body. My desire. My rage. You know the story. But you don't know my story.

  5. Mar 24

    Gaia’s Library Episode 8 - The Manual For Good Wives by Lola Jaye

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Lola Jaye (www.lolajaye.com) about her novel, The Manual For Good Wives, for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: Everything about Adeline Copplefield is a lie . . . To the world Mrs Copplefield is the epitome of Victorian propriety: an exemplary society lady who writes a weekly column advising young ladies on how to be better wives. Only Adeline has never been a good wife or mother; she has no claim to the Copplefield name, nor is she an English lady . . . Now a black woman, born in Africa, who dared to pretend to be something she was not, is on trial in the English courts with all of London society baying for her blood. And she is ready to tell her story . . .

  6. Feb 27

    Gaia’s Library Episode 6 - Life as Planned by Amanda Prowse

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Amanda Prowse (www.amandaprowse.com) about her novel, Life as Planned, for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: For identical twins Remy and Ashleigh, everything changes with one childhood decision. A simple act of love that unwittingly alters the paths they will both walk—an act of love that will echo through decades… As the years unfold, their lives take dramatically different courses. Ashleigh soars through a glittering London career with the perfect house and family, but beneath her success lies a gnawing truth: her whole life is built on a lie. Meanwhile, Remy stays close to home, finding joy in simple pleasures, yet forever feeling the weight of being ‘the other twin’—the one who didn’t shine. Both sisters long for the uncomplicated closeness they once shared, but can they find their way back to each other? And after a lifetime shaped by that single childhood choice, is it too late to become the people they were meant to be?

  7. Jan 22

    Gaia’s Library Episode 5 - More Than Nothing by Sophie Hamilton

    Francesca Catlow (https://www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: Wildly romantic, full of drama, heat and heart, More Than Nothing is the first book in the small-town romantic suspense Pine Springs series. With Elenie’s family the most hated in Pine Springs, keeping a low profile has become a way of life for her. But then new police chief, Roman Martinez, shows up at the diner where she’s a waitress, all muscle and badge and dangerous perception. And going under the radar just got that much harder. He’s determined to take down a drug ring. The prime suspects? Elenie’s criminal stepfather and brothers. Keeping her distance would be the sensible choice, but what if she could help Roman put her family behind bars – and finally prove that she’s nothing like them? Turning informant will be a dangerous game for them both. But it might be Elenie’s only chance to get the life – and the man – she’s always dreamed of… Sometimes, you have to risk it all when the potential reward means everything.

  8. 12/22/2025

    Gaia’s Library Episode 4 - Christmas by Candlelight by Karen Swan

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Karen Swan (https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/310156/karen-swan) about her novel Christmas by Candlelight for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: Snowed in for the holidays, old truths rise to the surface. Christmas by Candlelight is a cosy Christmas story from Karen Swan, bestselling author of The Stolen Hours. It’s three days before Christmas and starting to snow when high-flier Libby and her new boyfriend reluctantly attend her university reunion. Hosted by Archie Templeton – the heartbreaker of their group – at his grand family estate in Yorkshire, the night is a great success until they go to leave: the road is now blocked with snow. At first, being snowed in together is fun. But as hours pass everyone grows restless. Then the power goes out . . . Hunkered down together by candlelight, they reminisce about old times – and tensions soon start to rise. Secrets from the past begin to unravel and Libby is confronted with a truth she has long tried to deny.

  9. 11/25/2025

    Gaia’s Library Episode 3 - The Women of Artemis by Hannah Lynn

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Hannah Lynn (www.hannahlynnbooks.com) about her novel The Women of Artemis for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: Mothers. Daughters. Warriors. Women. This is the never-before-told story of history's most ferocious heroines: this is the rise of the Amazons. When she first married at fourteen, Otrera imagined a relationship full of love. A partnership. Years later, living in destitution with her abusive husband, she knows that no such thing exists with a man. It is simply a woman's lot in life to accept the treatment of her husband. Until it's not. Rallying the women around her, Otrera fights back, taking no prisoners. Because it's clear to her: when men are in power, freedom isn't granted. It's bought with blood. It's a price she is more than willing to pay, if it means building a new life with other women far from the reaches of their abusers. But a community of women - an army of women - is bound to make enemies of gods and men alike. This is the story of Otrera and the first Amazons.

  10. 10/31/2025

    Gaia’s Library Episode 2 - Under a Greek Sky by Francesca Catlow

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with her editor, Victoria Pepe from Lake Union, about her novel Under a Greek Sky for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: When her happily-ever-after is shattered by a fiancé who disappears along with her life savings, Lorena desperately needs a new start. Then her seemingly perfect parents separate, and her mother decides to return to Corfu, the island of her birth, to renovate a family beach house. Lorena goes too, keen for a chance to shut the world out for a while. The sun-soaked island with its stunning beaches and glittering sea is just the distraction Lorena needs. Not least handsome, mysterious Christos. But as long-held family secrets start to emerge, clouds gather over their Greek island paradise. Why has Lorena’s mother always refused to return to Corfu until now? What secrets of his own is Christos keeping? When her father reappears on the scene, all hope of peace seems lost. Is Lorena about to watch another happily-ever-after implode, or can she learn from the past and open herself up to a new future? Let Francesca Catlow sweep you away to enchanting Corfu—the perfect place to rediscover romance and embrace new beginnings.

  11. 09/30/2025

    Gaia’s Library Episode 1 - In Another Life by Imogen Clark

    Francesca Catlow (www.francescacatlow.co.uk) chats with Imogen Clark (www.imogenclark.com) about her novel, In Another Life, for Gaia's Library Book Boxes and Book Club. Join us at www.gaiaslibrary.co.uk if you haven't already. Book Blurb: How big a lie would you tell to protect the ones you love? From the million copy bestselling author of In a Single Moment comes a heart-twisting story of family, identity and the cost of truth. Bronte Ashton thought she knew everything about her mother Loretta — until a stranger appears at her funeral claiming to be Loretta's long-lost sister. But Loretta was an only child. Grief turns to confusion, then a desire to find out the truth. Because while her siblings dismiss the woman as an impostor, Bronte can't ignore the nagging feeling that maybe they didn't know their mother at all. As Bronte journeys from Loretta's beloved home in Yorkshire to the heat-soaked hillsides of Sicily, she uncovers more questions than answers. Why did Loretta leave her old life behind? And what secret was worth erasing her entire past to protect? But as Bronte edges closer to the truth, she realizes that some family secrets, once revealed, have the power to shatter not just the past, but everything she holds dear in the present.

  • 11 Episodes

About

Each month, international bestselling author Francesca Catlow, will interview an author. For those of you in the Book Club, this is the author who wrote the mystery book featured that month. By becoming a member, you'll be able to submit your questions as you read the books and Francesca will do her best to ask as many as she can in her podcast. Not only that, but she'll be asking them about their own insight into their novel, what inspired them to write it, and the journey they have been on as an author. Basically, all the questions you're dying to ask your new favourite author!

Information

  • Creator
    Francesca Catlow
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Gaia’s Library Podcast