The Sunday Salon with Alice-Azania Jarvis

Christina Patterson is a journalist and author, whose new book Outside The Sky Is Blue, is an absolutely beautiful reflection on family, illness, grief and love. I worked with Christina many years ago. In fact, she sat next to me when I was a very green reporter working on the gossip column of the Independent newspaper. She, in contrast, was an extremely erudite and glamorous columnist, writing about big issues like politics and literature - and she was absolutely lovely to me. What I hadn't realised was that she'd had to deal with an enormous amount of grief and hardship in her life. Outside The Sky Is Blue recounts the story of her family - whom she calls, at one point, “the mad, sad Pattersons”, including her sister's schizophrenia, the premature deaths of her mother, father and brother, and her own struggles with lupus and cancer. This might sound depressing, but in fact Outside The Sky Is Blue is very far from a misery memoir. What Christina has done so well is inject humour, nostalgia, and even glamour into her story, whether that's in recounting her strange time as a member of an evangelical youth group and her exciting, action-packed rise through the world of publishing and the arts and into journalism; or relaying anecdotes about her love life. I absolutely adored the book, and I loved speaking to Christina about it. What a special interview to end on. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/outside-the-sky-is-blue/christina-patterson/9781472282620Twitter: @aliceazania / @queenchristina_Instagram: @aliceazania / @queenchristinawriterEdited by Chelsey Moore

I adored this episode. Lily King is the author of five novels - including, most recently, the phenomenal best seller Writers and Lovers, which documents the creative and romantic travails of aspiring writer Casey Peabody. It's one of my favourite books of the year and so speaking to Lily felt like a fitting finale to this series. I loved hearing about everything from why she writes by hand to how she forces herself to work even when she's not feeling inspired and so much more. It was a gorgeous conversation and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/writers-and-lovers/lily-king/9781529033137Edited by Chelsey Moore 

If you're after an eerie thriller to curl up with over Christmas, the New York Times Bestseller The Sanatorium would be pretty perfect  - and I loved interviewing its author Sarah Pearse. She was full of practical advice for getting published, having started by writing short stories for magazines before attempting novels.  And I loved her down-to-earth attitude to writing. We also spoke about Reese Witherspoon, who included Sarah's book in her online book club -and with whom she had a pretty surreal Zoom call. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sanatorium/sarah-pearse/2928377075873 Edited by Chelsey Moore 

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian's Chief Theatre Critic and the author of the phenomenally powerful Consumed: A Sister's Story. It's an astonishing read, which tells the story of Arifa's sister's death from tuberculosis, which was somehow missed by medics at a top London hospital. It delves into the aftermath - Arifa's search for answers to questions such as whether her sister's history of poor mental health meant she was taken less seriously, and spools back to their childhood, growing up in poverty in North London having moved to the UK from Lahore. It examines the complexities of sibling relationships, the bonds, shared behaviours, and the arguments, and looks at Arifa and her sister's struggle with binge eating. It's a brilliant, multilayered book - and I found speaking to Arifa about how she wrote it absolutely fascinating. Buy the book:https://www.waterstones.com/book/consumed/arifa-akbar/9781529347524 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Tahmima Anam has had a fascinating life. Born in Bangladesh, she has lived in Paris, New York and Bangkok - and is now based in the UK. Her first novel, A Golden Age (2007), won the Commonwealth Writers Prizes' Best First Book award and launched a highly acclaimed trilogy concerned with telling the history of Bangladesh as an independent nation. Her most recent book, The Start Up Wife, is extremely different - a sort of "romantic comedy" (to use her phrase) which satirises the start-up industry, tech bros, and Big Tech's messianic tenancies. It's hilariously funny and bitingly sharp - she draws on her own experience of working in the field. We talked about all of that and more - including the incredibly difficult experience she had when her son, as an infant, refused to eat for the first five years of his life. I hope you find her as fascinating as I did - and apologies for my naughty, noisy cats playing in the background! Buy the book: https://tinyurl.com/startupwifeInstagram / Twitter: @aliceazaniaEdited by Chelsey Moore

Elif Shafak is - among other things - an activist, public speaker and academic with a PhD in political science who teaches at universities in Turkey, the US and the UK. She is also the author of an incredible 12 novels which have been translated into 55 languages. Her most recent  novel, The Island of Missing Trees, is a sweeping story of intergenerational trauma set in Cyprus and London. I loved talking to her about it - and in particular in the role of nature as a plot device - as well as about her fascinating life: she was born in Strasbourg, before moving to Turkey, where she was later put on trial for "insulting Turkishness" in her acclaimed book The Bastard of Istanbul. She is now based in London. We discussed all this and more - including her struggle with postnatal depression, writing in a second language, and the power of being an outsider.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/316/316722/the-island-of-missing-trees/9780241434994.htmlTwitter / Instagram: @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore 

Hello and welcome to a new series of the Sunday Salon! I've got so many fantastic guests coming up - and today's episode is particularly special. Emily Ratajkowski is a model, activist and actress - and now the author of My Body, a collection of essays reflecting on her position in the spotlight and how her appearance has shaped people's behaviours and attitudes towards her. It's a riveting and extremely moving read - Emily reveals some deeply traumatic experiences, including being sexually assaulted while working as a model (her allegations about Robin Thicke have been widely publicised in recent weeks; he hasn't yet responded publicly) and earlier, at the age of just 14, by a schoolfriend. I have to say, I was blown away with how raw and accomplished each essay was, and I'm so grateful to Emily for speaking so openly and honestly with me. We covered so much - including what it's like to have everything you do become  "clickbait", her own physical hyper-awareness as someone who is constantly photographed, revisiting painful memories in public, and finding catharsis in writing. I hope you find it as fascinating as I did.Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/my-body/emily-ratajkowski/9781529420906Edited by Chelsey Moore

Right, I'm off to enjoy my honeymoon (yes, all being well, by the time you read this I will be one day into married life). But I'm leaving you with a joy of an episode. I loved this book. The Troubles with Us: One Belfast Girl on Boys, Bombs and Finding Her Way is a brilliant memoir by Alix O'Neill about her time growing up in Northern Ireland. Taking in everything from bomb threats to pop music and her (very) eccentric family, it's both hugely entertaining and enjoyable but also massively informative and interesting from a more historical point of view. As you can imagine, I had a LOT to ask Alix about - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-troubles-with-us/alix-oneill/9780008393700 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Today's episode was such a joy to record - Phoebe Luckhurst is an editor at the Evening Standard newspaper, and also the author of The Lock In, a totally fun indulgence of a book about what happens when three housemates (and a date) find themselves trapped in the attic of their house share. Phoebe is such a clever writer - she has managed to work in so many touchpoints of millennial culture and London life, from dating apps to public transport calculations to awful landlords and so much else. Fittingly, she wrote most of the book in lockdown - something I loved hearing about as I can remember having the opposite experience, and feeling totally uncreative and uninspired. I was also fascinated by her tales of student journalism (she was one of the founding staff members on the student tabloid The Tab). Anyway - I'll leave you to discover the rest. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-lock-in/phoebe-luckhurst/9780241508756 Edited by Chelsey Moore

This was such a fun interview! Olivia Petter is a podcasting phenomenon and the author of Millennial Love, a kind of modern anthropological anthology of what dating and relationships are like now. From apps to ghosting and how social media can affect both the beginning - and end - of relationships, to how the MeToo movement changed ordinary women's lives, there was so much we covered. I loved her book, and I loved talking to her about it - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/millennial-love/olivia-petter/9780008412302 Edited by Chelsey Moore

I loved this conversation: Nadifa Mohamed is an award-winning novelist whose most recent book The Fortune Men is a dazzling account of the real-life events surrounding the wrongful imprisonment and execution of a Somali seaman and father, who was the last man to be hanged in Cardiff prison. Set in Tiger Bay in the 1950s and fusing historical reportage and literary fiction, it has just been longlisted for a Booker prize - and quite right too. I loved talking to Nadifa about her unique approach to writing - her first book Black Mamba Boy was similarly inventive: part novel, part account of her father's life in Yemen and his journey to the UK. It was just so interesting to hear about the process of taking real life events - whether from newspapers or her family life - and applying artistic license to turn them into stories, as well as her stop-start approach to writing, the importance of 'fallow time', and adapting her work to opera. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-fortune-men/nadifa-mohamed/9780241466940 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Today's guest is the absolutely brilliant Bella Mackie, author of the fabulous and funny new novel How To Kill Your Family. You may also know her non-fiction work, particularly her phenomenally successful memoir Jog On, which chronicled how taking up running after her first marriage collapsed helped manage her anxiety. It was a bestseller, and she has become one of the most high-profile and refreshingly down-to-earth voices on mental health around. I loved our conversation, which took in everything from the pomodoro method (she's a fan!) to the research that went into writing her rather bloody book - to the anxiety she experienced in the wake of Jog On's success, having never imagined it would garner so much attention. We spoke before How To Kill Your Family was published, and Bella was really nervous to see how her first piece of fiction was received - well, it's since become a Sunday Times number one bestseller. Quite right too. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-kill-your-family/bella-mackie/9780008365912 Edited by Chelsey Moore

​I​'m so​,​ so excited for you to hear today's episode. L​i​sa Taddeo is a phenomenon. She shot to fame as the author of Three Women, which covers the sexual and emotional lives of three women from different backgrounds and regions of the United States. It was described as ​'groundbreaking​'​, ​'​seminal​'​ and having created a ​whole ​new genre. Now she has written a novel, Animal, a gripping and often dark story of rage, power, control and abuse. ​I absolutely loved talking to her - she was totally fascinating, opening up on everything from the profound grief she felt after the death of her parents, to how she kept persisting with Three Women, even as the time it took stretched way beyond her initial contract to eight years. ​I couldn't ask for a more interesting interviewee - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I'm so happy to be back - and I'm so excited about today's guest. Natasha Lunn is a journalist and the author of Conversations On Love, an absolutely gorgeous book in which she interviews authors and experts, while also drawing on her own experience in a series of riveting personal essays. She asks three key questions: how do we find love? How do we sustain it? And how do we survive when we lose it? This is truly the stuff of life, and I couldn't put Conversations On Love down. I've known Natasha for a few years, and her fascination with love is totally genuine and infectious. The book - which was born out of her wildly popular newsletter of the same name - takes in both her long quest for romantic love, as well as the aftermath of her miscarriage and her struggle to conceive again. And it explores other kinds of love too: the love between friends, siblings, parents and even strangers. It's so moving and beautifully written - but also funny, warm and wise. I had such fun recording this episode - it was my first one in person for over a year - hence the birdsong in the background (windows open!!), which I rather love for the summery feel it adds. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/conversations-on-love/natasha-lunn/9780241448731 Instagram: @conversations_on_love / @natashachloelunn / @aliceazania Twitter: @Natashalunn / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

Where to start with this? I absolutely loved Malibu Rising. A heady mix of 80s Malibu and 60s Hollywood, it's an absolute blast to read. But then I shouldn't be surprised - after all, it was written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of 2019's smash-hit Daisy Jones and the six. I just adored speaking to her about it, as well as hearing about her unconventional path to writing (it involves Jennifer Aniston), her love of chick lit and how motherhood has made her better at her job. It's was a great conversation - and a wonderful way to wrap up the series. Buy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1116392/malibu-rising/9781786331526.html Edited by Chelsey Moore

Where to start with this? I absolutely loved Malibu Rising. A heady mix of 80s Malibu and 60s Hollywood, it's an absolute blast to read. But then I shouldn't be surprised - after all, it was written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of 2019's smash-hit Daisy Jones and the six. I just adored speaking to her about it, as well as hearing about her unconventional path to writing (it involves Jennifer Aniston), her love of chick lit and how motherhood has made her better at her job. It's was a great conversation - and a wonderful way to wrap up the series. Buy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1116392/malibu-rising/9781786331526.html Edited by Chelsey Moore

I'm not sure you could have come up with a more ambitious task than Kat Arney set herself when she decided to write her most recent book Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution and the Science of Life, in which she looks at the history of cancer in the human race, as well as how we tend to view, prevent and treat it today. It's not her first massive challenge - before this, she wrote a book about understanding how our genes work. I loved hearing how she took on the task, how she built her career in science and science communication in a frequently male-dominated field, and what it has been like to have science become the focus of so much attention over the past year. I hope you find her as fascinating as I did. Edited by Chelsey Moore Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/rebel-cell/dr-kat-arney/9781474609302

Dima Alzayat has had a fascinating life. Born in Damascus, Syria, she grew up in California before moving to the UK to study creative writing. Her collection of short stories Alligator and Other Stories is a riveting read, in which she ranges across genres and formats in a way I've not seen before. I loved talking to her about this - hearing about her process and path to publication (not to mention how motherhood has changed that) as well as about some of the frustrations she has felt in having her work pidgeonholed as “a muslim, Arab book” simply because of her background. It was a fascinating conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/alligator-and-other-stories/dima-alzayat/9781529029918 Edited by Chelsey Moore

This was such a fun episode to record. Katie Service is a former makeup artist and beauty editor who is now Editorial Beauty Director at Harrods - and the author of The Beauty Brief: An Insider's Guide to Skincare. She's also an old colleague of mine - we worked together on ES magazine, where she became my go-to guru for anything vaguely beauty related. I have to admit: this is not natural territory for me. Left to my own devices (for instance in lockdown) I tend to go a bit feral. So I loved the chance to pick Katie's brains on what I should be doing now that normal life is resuming, as well as what it's like to work in such a glamorous and competitive industry - often fielding big egos on photo shoots. Her book is absolutely packed with useful information, explaining everything from how different products work to what ingredients lists mean, and what is definitely not worth wasting your time and money on. I hope you enjoy hearing her as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-beauty-brief/katie-service/constanza-goeppinger/9780500295465 Edited by Chelsey Moore

This was such a fun conversation. After becoming fascinated by an old photo taken on the island of Hydra in Greece, Polly Samson set about researching the lives of the musicians, writers and artists who settled there in the 1960s, from Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen to the writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston. Her novel, A Theatre For Dreamers, is a lush fictionalised account of their lives, and a look at the problematic role of an artist's muse. I loved hearing about how and why she wrote it, her experience writing lyrics - she has written dozens for her husband David Gilmour of Pink Floyd - and her glamorous-sounding career in publishing in the 90s. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-theatre-for-dreamers/polly-samson/9781526600592 Edited by Chelsey Moore

I absolutely loved interviewing today's guest. Jenny Kleeman is a journalist and broadcaster and the author of Sex Robots & Vegan Meat: Adventures at the frontier of Birth, Food, Sex, and Death, which has just come out in paperback. The book is utterly riveting - Jenny travels all over the place talking to those at the forefront of some of the world's most intriguing technological innovations, from lab-grown meat to euthanasia machines. Her experiences range from the weird and wonderful to the downright disturbing, and she doesn't shy away from looking at some of the more problematic elements of tech evangelism.  I've never met Jenny before - but I have spoken to her, several times, when doing the news review on the weekend breakfast radio programme she hosts on Times Radio. So I was absolutely thrilled to get to grill her about the incredible research that went into the book as well as her fascinating career as a documentary maker and foreign correspondent. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/sex-robots-and-vegan-meat/jenny-kleeman/9781509894925 Edited by Chelsey Moore

This was such an interesting conversation. Natalie Morris is a journalist and the author of Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain, which draws on her own life experience as well as dozens of interviews to examine the mixed experience. From why she uses the term mixed, rather than mixed race, to the problem with brands' current enthusiasm for ethnically ambiguous models and how it makes her feel when people speculate as to the colour of any hypothetical child she might have, it's thoughtful, fascinating and hugely informative. I loved talking to Natalie about all of this - she was just so insightful. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/mixed-other/natalie-morris/9781409197140 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Katherine Faulkner has had such a fascinating career. A former investigative journalist at the Daily Mail, she used to go undercover to get to the heart of her stories. Then she went on to become joint head of news at The Times - and while on maternity leave wrote her first book, Greenwich Park, an absolutely gripping thriller about toxic relationships and unwanted friends. I loved hearing about all of this - especially a particularly hair raising reporting mission involving designer fashion and an escape dash to the airport, as well as her memories of stashing her laptop in the pram so she could snatch writing time if her baby fell asleep. Oh, and there was just so much else too - she was absolutely great and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/greenwich-park/katherine-faulkner/9781526626325 Edited by Chelsey Moore

If you're feeling a little cooped up after a year in lockdown, then this is the episode for you. Kate Wills is a travel writer and columnist and the author of A Trip of One's Own: Hope, heartbreak and why travelling solo could change your life. I absolutely gobbled up this book - not just because Kate has such a warm, easygoing writing style but also because of what's in it: a totally addictive combination of memoir, advice and history. The book starts just as Kate has called time on her marriage, and decides to embark on a prolonged period of solo adventure. While doing so, she seeks inspiration - and comfort - from the solo voyages of women who've come before her. We learn about them, but also about Kate herself as she rebuilds a new life, navigating a new relationship, reflecting on old ones (including her difficult past with her mother) and assuming a new role and identity (you'll see what I mean when you hear the interview). Oh and if you've ever wanted to travel alone but haven't been sure where to start, she has plenty of tips on that too. She was so brilliant to talk to - and I hope you enjoy hearing her as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-trip-of-ones-own/kate-wills/9781788704304 Edited by Chelsey Moore

This week's guest is the journalist Gaby Hinsliff, former political editor of the Observer and now a columnist and writer for the Guardian and others. This was such a dream interview in so many ways - I've admired Gaby's journalism for years, and I loved her book Half a Wife: The Working Family's Guide to Getting a Life Back when it came out nine years ago. Examining the compromises men and women make to juggle work and home, and the benefits of workplaces taking a new more flexible approach, it feels pretty timely right now, almost a decade on. Now Gaby has written the introduction to the first ever UK ebook edition of The Feminine Mystique, published  to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Betty Friedan's birth. It looks at the incredibly important role she played in freeing women from the cult of domesticy - but also at more problematic elements of Friedan's life, including her homophobic comments. It's a refreshingly mature way to approach an historic text and I loved talking to Gaby about that, as well as about breaking boundaries when she became the youngest political editor of a national newspaper -  and then packing in those 18 hour days to find (a bit) more balance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-feminine-mystique/id1553757817 Edited by Chelsey Moore

One day, when her son Cato was three months old, Catherine Cho looked at him and, instead of his eyes, she saw devil eyes. She and her husband James had taken Cato to the US from their home in London to introduce him to relatives. She grew gradually more anxious as the trip went on, before being hit by a tidal wave of postpartum psychosis, becoming convinced that she was in hell and that her son was going to die. She was sectioned. Inferno is her astonishing memoir about what happened next. Moving between scenes from her childhood, her romance with James, and her newly infantilised existence in a psychiatric institution, it's powerful, raw and eye opening. I'm so grateful to Catherine for talking to me about this - as well as what it was like reliving her trauma for the book, her anxiety over having a second child, and the urgent need to open up the conversation around maternal mental health. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/inferno/catherine-cho/9781526619044 Edited by Chelsey Moore

We have a term for our teenage years - ‘adolescence' - and we are all familiar with the ‘menopause' - but there's no word for the decade or so in which, arguably, women navigate more life-altering decisions than any other - their late 20s and 30s. Or at least there wasn't, until Nell Frizzell came along and coined one: ‘the flux', aka The Panic Years, the title of her new book. For her, these began when she was 28 and called time on the relationship that had dominated her adult life thus far. It came just as her friends started settling down and having children - something she was pretty sure she wanted too. What follows is a rollicking and smart account of her ‘panic' years from hare-brained camping trips with dates to soul searching over the ethics of procreation in a time of global warming - to the gnarly conundrum of falling in love with a man who says he doesn't want children yet. It's honest and fun and thought-provoking, as was Nell herself - I hope you enjoy listening to her as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-panic-years/nell-frizzell/9781787632837 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Still WFH? The food writer Rebecca Seal has been doing it for more than a decade. Six years ago, however, she reached something close to breaking point: working until eight or nine at night, six days a week (plus Sunday mornings, when she's a regular on brunch TV). So she and her partner decided to change things. They set rules: no working or talking about work before breakfast; no working after 8pm; no talking about work after 8pm - and no working at weekends. They stuck to them - and things got better. Now she has written a book, Solo: How to Work Alone (and Not Lose Your Mind), about how to make WFH work for you. It's full of brilliant advice - I loved hearing about how she has managed to cut back her hours while also being more productive, how she copes with loneliness, and also how, as a food writer, she approaches dinner parties (top tip: always test the recipe). I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/solo/rebecca-seal/9781788164856 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Sarah Sands is a media industry legend. A trailblazer for women in journalism, she has had one of the most glittering careers it's possible to have - editing two newspapers before going on to head up BBC Radio 4's flagship current affairs programme, Today. Having left that role last year, she'd be forgiven for putting her feet up. But no - she has just published The Interior Silence: 10 Lessons from Monastic Life. The book moves between her frenetic journalism career - buzzing along on six hours sleep, dealing with endless emails, breaking news and tweets - and her quest to discover the kind of inner calm more often seen among monks and nuns. It's a really fun, fascinating read - written in a kind of travelogue style, with bits of history, culture and monastic life interwoven with anecdotes from Sarah's busy, high-powered professional world. I lapped it up - and absolutely loved interviewing Sarah about everything from her start in journalism, holding her own in what was then a very male-dominated environment while also being a young single mother, making it to the top as the editor of The Sunday Telegraph - only to lose her job eight months later, reaching the pinnacle again as editor of the Evening Standard and then at the Today programme - and much, much more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-interior-silence/sarah-sands/9781780724546 Twitter: @aliceazania / @sarahsands100 Edited by Chelsey Moore

I've wanted to interview Sarra Manning since I started this podcast - for many reasons. She's a fab writer, a huge supporter of other authors, has tonnes of brilliant writing and publishing advice (seriously, this episode features some of the most original, no-nonsense and practical tips I've ever had). But also: she was the brains behind J-17's legendary Diary of a Crush. Growing up in South Africa, I was given a subscription to the seminal, feisty, feminist teen mag and I can honestly say that I don't think I'd have been a journalist if it wasn't for that. I was obsessed - and I loved the Diary of a Crush column and novellas. Anyway, that was a long time ago, and Sarra has had a hugely successful career in both magazines and books since then. Currently the literary editor of Red magazine, she has written over twenty five novels, both YA and adult - including, most recently, the absolutely charming rom com Rescue Me. I hope you find her as inspiring and wise as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/rescue-me/sarra-manning/9781529336542 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Lockdown and drinking go together like wine and cheese...or do they? Given the unusual situation we find ourselves in, perhaps it's not surprising that booze sales have rocketed. However Millie Gooch knows the problems with using alcohol as a coping mechanism only too well. After finding that her binge drinking was leaving her poleaxed by anxiety she gave it up, and started the Sober Girl Society, an online community of other teetotal women. I loved talking to her about that - as well as how she managed to write a book in lockdown, sober dating, peer pressure, anxiety management and more. She has some really great, practical advice - I hope you find it as interesting (and useful) as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-sober-girl-society-handbook/millie-gooch/9781787634121 Edited by Chelsey Moore

Brita Fernandez Schmidt is a phenomenon. The Executive Director of Women for Women International UK, she has spent her adult life fighting for women's rights around the world. The charity specialises in working with women in conflict zones, offering a year-long training programme to build support networks and develop skills that will help earn money. Naturally, the pandemic has affected Women for Women International's fund-raising techniques, and massively complicated their fieldwork. I'm so grateful to Brita for telling me about the issues they face, how people can help, and how they have adapted - as well as about her new book, Fears to Fierce, which recounts her experiences working in the human rights sector, how she deals with the emotional fallout of her job - and offers advice for professional women across the board. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/fears-to-fierce/brita-fernandez-schmidt/gillian-anderson/9781846046513 More information: https://womenforwomen.org.uk/ Edited by Chelsey Moore

This is not a Valentine's special - but it is a love story, in its own way. Or at least, a story of how someone left behind the hate they'd grown up with. Ok, this is all getting a bit cryptic, so let me explain: Megan Phelps-Roper is a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church. Growing up in Kansas, she lived in a compound with other members and took part in their notorious protests - including those against homosexuality, and including picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then something changed. After joining Twitter, others began engaging her in conversations that cast doubt on her beliefs and she slowly started to question everything she had grown up thinking to be true. In 2012, she left the church and became a vocal critic of it. Eventually, one of those early Twitter interventionists became her husband. Her memoir Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope, leaving the Westboro Baptist Church, documents her incredible journey - and as you imagine, I found her utterly fascinating to speak to.

A bidding war, a screen adaptation by the director who made “Chernobyl” - and now, a place on the bestseller lists. What a whirlwind few months it has been for Abigail Dean and her debut novel, Girl A, which documents the aftermath of the horrific abuse the narrator, Lex (aka ‘Girl A') endured at the hand of her father. Obviously, I was thrilled to interview her - the book is unbelievably gripping, and Abigail herself has a fascinating story, having worked as a lawyer for her 20s before deciding to pursue her literary ambitions. She's now back to working in law again, while also writing, and I loved hearing about how doing those two different things helps her process - as well as how she cures writer's block and how on earth she went from unknown to wildly successful author so quickly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/girl-a/abigail-dean/2928377050276 Twitter: @aliceazania / @abigailsdean Edited by Chelsey Moore

What a fascinating life Carys has led. Brought up in a strict Mormon family in Southport, she was married by 20, and had five children within seven years before deciding to leave behind her faith and study creative writing. Her first novel, 2014's A Song for Issy Bradley, won widespread acclaim and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel. Since then, she has published two other novels - including the recently published When the Lights Go Out. Its timing is uncanny, as a couple grapple with stockpiling, mortality, family and more. I loved talking to her about this, and am so grateful for her openness discussing her upbringing and how the tragic death of her daughter shaped her desire to examine grief in fiction. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/when-the-lights-go-out/carys-bray/9781786332349 Twitter: @carysbray / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

This was SUCH a fun, funny and fascinating conversation. Jessica Fellowes is a journalist and the author of books ranging from Mud and the City: Dos and Don'ts for Townies in the Country to her wildly successful series of Mitford Murders books, which fuse historical fact and fiction. Our conversation was as varied and quirky as that output suggests. I loved hearing about her most recent novel, the Mitford Trial, as well as how her deafness has informed her writing (and how she managed as a gossip columnist with it), working with her uncle Julian Fellowes on the Downton companion books (and touring the world as a result), how lockdown has affected her creativity, why she always interviews her characters - and why writing tips are (mostly) useless. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-mitford-trial/jessica-fellowes/9780751573954 Twitter: @jessicafellowes/ @aliceazania Instagram: @author_jessicafellowes / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

I absolutely loved Cecily von Ziegesar's Cobble Hill. It's really funny and quirky and smart without being heavy-going; full of subtle social satire and astute observation. It was particularly pleasing as Cecily is best known for writing the Gossip Girl books, which in turn launched the hugely successful TV show - and I was a mega Gossip Girl fan when I was younger. I loved our interview, which took place late last year the day after Joe Biden was announced as the President Elect - we chatted about everything from her background as a trainee ballerina, how running helps her writing, what it was like having her books become such a small-screen juggernaut and why it took so long to finish Cobble Hill. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/cobble-hill/cecily-von-ziegesar/9781398704350 Twitter: @cesvonz / @aliceazania Instagram: @CecilyvonZiegesar / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

There was no way I could turn down the chance to interview the editor in chief of Hello! - apart from anything else, I knew she'd have brilliant anecdotes. And Rosie Nixon didn't disappoint - I loved hearing how she and her staff put together their iconic Royal Wedding issues, as well as what it was like to attend Robbie Williams' wedding to Ayda Field (she was one of just a handful of people who knew it was happening in advance). And I loved hearing how she managed to fit in a successful career as an author (clue: it involves hotels and candles) and why she was keen to explore the uncomfortable elements of pregnancy and motherhood in her new book Just Between Friends. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. By the book here: hyperurl.co/BetweenFriends Twitter: @Rosie_Nixon / @aliceazania Instagram: @rosiejnixon / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

I took Emma Rowley's You Can Trust Me away on holiday to Wales and I gulped it down in one sitting. It's a really smart, grabby thriller about a ghostwriter who spends a week at the luxurious home of an influencer whose autobiography she is meant to be writing - only for things to take a very dark turn. It's a great read, and I knew I had to speak to Emma about it - not least as she herself has been a ghostwriter. We chatted late last year and I loved hearing about that experience, her move into fiction, how she combined journalism with publishing - and how our lockdown living has affected her creativity. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. By the book here: amzn.to/2FqHteD Twitter: @emma_rowley / @aliceazania Instagram: @emmacharlotterowley / @aliceazania

Was 2020 the least sexy year ever? Quite possibly - thanks to casual sex bans and social distancing. But was it on track to be that way anyway? These are questions examined in Mia Levitin's The Future of Seduction, which looks at the multifaceted ways in which phones and tech have changed romance, the effect of MeToo on flirting and courtship, and what the future holds for intimacy. I loved talking to Mia about this, as well as her path to publication, why she drew on her own experience of dating after divorce in the book, and much more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-future-of-seduction/mia-levitin/9781800180222 Twitter: @mialevitin / @aliceazania Instagram: @mialevitin / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

I first interviewed Kelleigh back in February 2020 - and then the pandemic hit in earnest. We weren't sure what to do: whether to ignore the fact that half of her answers now felt out of date, or to do it all again. I'm so glad we went for the latter, I wanted to hear how the pandemic experience had affected her life and her writing style. As a US national, she has spent the year miles away from her family. Of course, that's not all we talk about - she also tells me about the incredibly level of research that went into Swan Song, which imagines the fall-out among Truman Capote's group of female friends when his ‘expose' of their private lives is published in Esquire, the differences between writing for page and for screen, and how she tackled the writers block that almost scuppered the book. I loved revisiting our conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/swan-song/kelleigh-greenberg-jephcott/9781786090188 Twitter: @kgjephcott / @aliceazania Instagram: @ kgjephcott / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

When Sarah Perry would tell people she was an Essex Girl, her remarks would be met with a knowing smirk. Why? That question is at the heart of this book, which pinpoints what it is that makes an Essex girl (not white high-heels - but a chutzpah and convention-defying radicalism). Perry - the author of three wildly successful novels, After Me Comes the Flood, The Essex Serpent, and Melmoth - then delves into the lives of famous Essex Girls, from TOWIE star Gemma Collins to the abolitionist Anne Knight. I loved talking to her about this, as well as about her ‘late' start in writing, managing her work with chronic pain, her phenomenal successful novels and her strict Baptist upbringing. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/essex-girls/sarah-perry/9781788167451 Twitter: / @aliceazania Instagram: @sarah_grace_perry / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

Otegha Uwagba is an inspiration. Aged 25, fed up with her job in advertising, she quit and decided to establish herself as a freelance writer, setting up the networking platform Women Who, and self-publishing Little Black Book: A Toolkit For Working Women. After a sell-out print run, it was snapped up by a publisher and became a Sunday Times best-seller - and Otegha is now working on another book, We Need to Talk About Money, due out next year. But the aftermath of George Floyd's death - and the global outpouring of anguish that ensued - prompted her to set aside the latter and write Whites: On Race and Other Falsehoods, an absolutely brilliant analytical essay which dissects uncomfortable truths about racism and white complicity, and points out some of the problems with the reaction to the black lives matter movement from otherwise well-meaning white people. I found both the book - and our conversation - absolutely riveting and I hope you do too. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/whites/otegha-uwagba/9780008440428 Twitter: @OteghaUwagba / @aliceazania Instagram: @oteghauwagba / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

On a chilly autumn afternoon, I picked up Kenya Hunt's Girl: Essays on Black Womanhood - and didn't put it down until it was way past my bedtime. It's a totally compelling and gripping read, combining social observation, cultural criticism, history and rich personal anecdotes to examine different elements of black womanhood and the black experience. Kenya writes with such a lightness of touch, it's a joy to read - as well as being thoroughly thought-provoking and insightful. That she published this while also raising two children and holding down a high flying job as Grazia UK's Fashion Director is hugely impressive - but that doesn't surprise me, since I've known Kenya for a few years now, ever since I covered her maternity leave while she was deputy editor of Elle, and she is the very embodiment of impressive. I loved talking to her about the book, as well as hearing about her childhood growing up in Virginia, breaking into the fashion industry in New York, then moving to the UK, why her habit of journaling fuelled the essays in Girl, and so much more. By the book here: https://dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/books/girl-essays-on-black-womanhood/ Twitter: @KenyaNHunt / @aliceazania Instagram: @kenyahunt / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

We are back! Welcome to series three of the Sunday Salon - and I'm kicking the new season off with a really special guest: the one and only Grace Dent, restaurant critic, columnist, novelist, TV personality and now, memoirist. Her new book Hungry: A memoir of wanting more is undoubtedly one of my reads of the year. Taking in Grace's childhood in Carlisle, where she dreamed of glamour and the bright lights of London, then her break into the media industry, and her raucous climb up the career ladder, it is a total riot to read - and also deeply, deeply moving, as she chronicles her father's journey into dementia and her struggle to hold the family together without herself falling apart. It's evocative, and clever, and made me laugh and cry several times over. I really loved speaking to Grace about all of this - as well as the peculiarities of class in Britain, writing at 5am and why she wishes she'd spent less time worrying about men. It was a very, very special conversation. So thank you Grace - and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did. By the book here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/hungry/grace-dent/9780008333171 Twitter: @gracedent / @aliceazania Instagram: @gracedent / @aliceazania Edited by Chelsey Moore

So - it's the final episode of season two, my 76th episode - and my 24th lockdown isolationcast! Thank you so much for bearing with me as I've done the podcast remotely in this way. My guest today is Rebcca Ley, whose debut novel For When I'm Gone is a hugely moving and yet also uplifting look at family, motherhood, grief and love. Rebecca was such a fascinating guest - as well as being a novelist, she is a journalist for the likes of The Times and the Guardian, for whom she wrote a popular column, Doing it for Dad, about her father's dementia. We discussed all of this, as well as her childhood growing up in Cornwall (as well as her time being homeschooled while her parents travelled in India), her teenage struggle with anorexia, her abandoned first novel, her writing process and so much more. I loved it - and I hope you do too Twitter: @aliceazania / @rebeccahelenley Instagram: @aliceazania / @rebeccaley Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/for-when-im-gone/rebecca-ley/9781409195375 Edited by Chelsey Moore

As some of you know, I was meant to be getting married next weekend. I'm not anymore - we've postponed - but as it happens this episode has a bit of wedding theme, since Luminary Bakery are making my cake! More importantly, they have also just published a brilliant new cookbook, Rising Hope: Recipes and Stories from Luminary Bakery. If you aren't familiar with them, they are a bakery and cafe with branches in Stoke Newington and Camden - and are an incredible force for good, training women who've experienced severe disadvantage, from homelessness to domestic violence, in baking and patisserie - and thereby offering them a future route to employment. You might remember them from the visit they received from the Duchess of Sussex (she also featured them in her guest-edited edition of Vogue). I loved chatting to Rachel Stonehouse and Kaila Johnson from their team about all of this - as well as the challenges presented by the lockdown, both in terms of finances and maintaining contact with the vulnerable women they work with. Thank you Rachel and Kaila for opening up. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did. Twitter: @aliceazania / @LuminaryBakery Instagram: @aliceazania / @luminarybakery Buy the book: https://luminarybakery.com/pages/luminary-cookbook Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest today has had the most phenomenal life. Xiaolu Guo was born in a fishing village in the south of China. She grew up with her grandparents, until she was seven when she went to live with her parents in a communist-era compound. She studied film in Beijing, then moved London in 2002. Five years later her first English Language novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. We talked about all of this - what it was like to grow up in such a unique political climate, finding creativity amidst the uniformity of the communist regime, the process involved in writing in a second language, her success as a film maker - and more. And she explained why she chose to examine a post-Brexit world in her new novel, A Lover's Discourse. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Twitter: @aliceazania Instagram: @aliceazania Buy the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YYXB238/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Edited by Chelsey Moore

My guest this week is someone I have wanted to interview for absolutely ages. Ever since her debut novel My Name is Leon was published in 2016, Kit de Waal has been one of the most thoughtful and interesting voices in the industry. Having crowdfunded and edited an anthology of working class memoir, Common People, she has spoken frequently of the need for the publishing world to become more diverse. In response to the pandemic, she co-founded The Big Book Weekend, a virtual festival in May. Now she has published a collection of short stories, Supporting Cast, which revisits some of the characters from her previous works. We spoke about all of this and more - including how she became an author in her 50s, why coming to publishing late made her a better writer, and why we should all be less snobby about audiobooks. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Twitter: @aliceazania / @KitdeWaal Instagram: @aliceazania / @kitdewaal Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/supporting-cast/kit-de-waal/9780241973424 Edited by Chelsey Moore

This conversation was utterly fascinating. As you know, I've been asking all my guests for a few of their isolation stories. Well, today's guest has a particularly interesting tale. After going through New York's long and grueling lockdown, Frances Cha has moved to South Korea, where she always spends the summer, and had a very different experience. It was absolutely riveting to hear about. Of course we discussed lots else - not least her dazzling debut novel If I Had Your Face which explores, among other things, South Korea's huge plastic surgery industry and highly stratified society. And we discussed how teaching helps her writers block, her long journey to publication - and why sometimes the best writing is painful. Instagram: @aliceazania / @franceschawrites Twitter: @aliceazania / @Frances_H_Cha Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/if-i-had-your-face/frances-cha/9780241396070 Edited by Chelsey Moore

I am so excited about this week's episode - it's actually the second time that Emma has been on The Sunday Salon. Last time, we were discussing her hugely successful book The Multi-Hyphen Method, about combining different jobs into one career. Now she's back - with a novel: the smart, warm, refreshing Olive, about a woman whose friends who are settling down and having children but who is not sure she wants that. It's a great theme for a book and I loved hearing why Emma wanted to explore it. I'm so grateful that she was so open about that - as well as the disappointment of having your book out in a pandemic, writing anxiety and much, much more. Buy the book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/olive/emma-gannon/9780008382728 Twitter: @aliceazania / @emmagannon Instagram: @aliceazania / @emmagannonuk Edited by Chelsey Moore