The Brit Lit Podcas‪t‬ Claire Handscombe

Our guest today is Lorraine Brown, whose debut novel Uncoupling came out a couple of weeks ago in the UK, and will be out in the US as The Paris Connection this summer. It’s a delightful love story which made for a great start to my reading year. Lorraine spoke to me just before her novel was published, and we had a meandering chat about all kinds of things from our love of trains, our experiences of LA, why authors should stay away from their Goodreads reviews, and more.

Our guest today is Cherie Johnson, whose Barbados-set novel How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is hot off the press and has won praise from all quarters. Cosmopolitan calls it “visceral and haunting” and Bernadine Evaristo says that it’s “a hard-hitting and unflinching novel from a bold new writer who tackles head-on the brutal extremes of patriarchal abuse”.

Our guest today is bestselling novelist Milly Johnson, who’s the author of many books of romantic fiction, most recently I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. Milly has had a fascinating career, including as a greetings card joke writer, and I hope you’ll enjoy learning about that as much as I did! She talks to us about Christmas themed-book recommendations, why her latest book is her favourite of hers, her time ghost writing for Purple Ronnie, and more.

Our guest on episode 66 is Lucy Farfort, who’s the illustrator of the gorgeous new picture book Afraid of the Dark, written by Isabel Otter and Sarah Shaffi.  It’s a lovely book about moving house, new beginnings, friendship and finding ways to cope with fear.  Lucy and I talked about the process of illustrating books, advice for anyone who’d like to get into the field, the importance of diversity in publishing, and more. 

Our guest on episode 65 is Annie Lyons, who, among other books, is the author of the lovely, heart-warming novel Eudora Honeysett Is Quite Well, Thank You, known in the US as The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. It’s about an older woman who grew up in the Second World War and is now at the end of her life, and kind of over the whole thing, and ready to be done. But then a new family moves in next door, and she makes a new friend. I read it this spring, when reading had been a struggle for weeks –it was just the book I needed.
Among other things, Annie talked to me about her recent favourite reads, her love of Mary Berry, and about her fascinating career in publishing – she worked as a bookseller on Charing Cross Road for a while, and I guarantee you will never be able to guess who her most famous customer was.
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Books Mentioned on the Podcast:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeysett
The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes, by Ruth Hogan
Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
The Book of Echoes by Rosanna Amaka
Mary Berry's Christmas Collection, by Mary Berry
Mary Berry's Baking Bible, by Mary Berry
Once Upon a Tyne, by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly
Byker Grove, by Adele Parks
The Diary of an MP’s Wife, by Sasha Swire
The Baby Group, by Caroline Corcoran
Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton
The High Moments, by Sara-Ella Ozbek
Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe
In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!
In the UK, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.
Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.
Buy Claire’s novel, Unscripted.
Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at britlitpodcast@gmail.com
*****
The Brit Lit Podcast
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Claire
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Annie Lyons
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Our guest today is Gillian Harvey, the author of Everything Is Fine. She and I talked about how she ended up living in France, how social media can affect our self-worth, and more. 
*****
Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.
Books Mentioned on the Podcast:
Everything is Fine, by Gillian Harvey
A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle
A Year in the M***e, by Stephen Clark
The Neighbour, by Nicola Gill
Normal People, by Sally Rooney
This Lovely City, by Louise Hare
After the End, by Clare Mackintosh
Intimations, by Zadie Smith 
The Fleet Street Girls, by Julie Welch
Love in Colour, by Bolu Babalola
Diamonds at the Lost and Found, by Sarah Aspinall
Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart
Unscripted, by Claire Handscombe
*****
Want to help the Brit Lit Podcast survive and thrive? Here are some painless ways.
In the US, buy your hardbacks and paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support the podcast, as well as independent bookshops!
In the UK, you can support the podcast by using this link to buy from Blackwells.com, which ships internationally at inexpensive rates.
Get your first two audiobooks for just $14.99 with the code BRITLIT on Libro.fm.
Buy Claire’s novel, Unscripted.
Questions? Comments? Need a book recommendation? Email Claire at britlitpodcast@gmail.com
*****
The Brit Lit Podcast
Instagram / Twitter / Facebook / Website
Claire
Twitter / Facebook / Blog / Novel
Gillian Harvey
Twitter / Website