The Book Alchemist Heather Suttie

57 year-old author Helen Fitzgerald has written more than a dozen best selling novels. She has worked as a criminal justice social worker for over ten years. Helen grew up in Victoria, Australia and now lives in Glasgow with her screenwriter husband and family.
We discuss her own books including Dead Lovely, The Cry and its BAFTA winning screen adaptation plus the inspiration for her latest novel Halfway House.

Reece Donnelly is the brilliant, 27 year-old founder of Theatre School of Scotland. He was also a competitor on The Apprentice.
Reading is a big part of the work he does with children and it fuels his professional ambitions. He shares insights into The Apprentice and what he's learned about himself as a result of that experience.
We discuss great stories and the titles he loves which include:
The Secret by Rhonda ByrneUnlimited Power by Anthony RobbinsThe Third Door by Alex BanayanLaura Whitmore's No One Can Change Your Life Except For YouBecoming Mollie MaeLord Sugar's What You See is What You Get

Sarah Frame is a grandmother and the award winning founder of The Book Nook, a community bookshop in Stewarton, Ayrshire in Scotland.
The Book Nook scooped Scotland's independent bookshop of the year in 2024.
We discuss books and authors she loves including John Boyne's Water, Earth, Fire and Air ( to be released ), Douglas Skelton, John Niven, Caro Ramsay, Denzyl Meyrick, Donna Ashworth, Len Penny, The Force by Paul Hardisty, Valerie Perrin's Fresh Water for Flowers and more.

Dr Lesley McDowell is a novelist and writer of non-fiction, she was a lecturer in English Literature at St Andrews University, then became a full-time freelance literary critic, writing for publications like The Herald, The Scotsman, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and others.
Her first novel, The Picnic, was published in 2007, and her second –Unfashioned Creatures - about Mary Shelley’s Scottish childhood friend, was published in 2013. We discuss the books she loves and her latest novel, Clairmont.

Seb McKay is probably Oscar Wilde's biggest fan, he loves reading and words are his life. Seb is a self confessed nerd; he loves Japanese culture, shares the bookshops he loves and how a year of reading dangerously changed the way he reads.
We discuss the books and authors which have great meaning for him:
Blurb Your Enthusiasm by Louise WilderClaire Keegan's So Late in the DayWhite Teeth by Zadie SmithGirl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoThe Travelling Cat Chronicles Hiro ArikawaOther People's Beds by Anna Punsoda Paradise Rot by Jenny HvalEarthlings by Sayaka MurataConvenience Store Woman by Sayaka MurataPriestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood The Portrait of Dorian Gray Weird F***s by Lynne Tillman

Donna Ashworth is a Sunday Times bestselling author, poet and lover of words who found fame with her work in her 40s. She originally self-published her work.
Celebrity fans include Fearne Cotton, Tess Daly, Elizabeth Day, Mark Owen, Davina McCall, Susannah Constantine and many more.
Donna's current book Wild Hope is a #1 bestseller since its release in 2023. We discuss her journey and finding hope and comfort during life's most challenging times.
We discuss Louise Hay, Bryony Gordon and The Goddess Path by Kirsty Gallacher.