Podcast appearances and mentions of Ian McEwan

Anna and Geoff react to the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, ANGEL DOWN by Daniel Kraus, a World War 1 novel written in one sentence. We also discuss Dwight Garner's New York Times article about the lack of book critics and our views on book influencers and reviews that make news, such as the Harper's review of To Paradise by Hana Yanagihara.   Our book of the week is TRANSCRIPTION by Ben Lerner. This novel about a writer who writes an article about his mentor from his memory of their interview after dropping his phone in a sink tackles issues such as phone addiction, parenting and eating disorders. It was a Telegraph 'most anticipated book of 2026' and a New York Times 'book everyone will be talking about'. Recommended for book clubs.   We had to ask: Why did he not put his phone in a bowl of rice? Is this a book about tech addiction? How does it differ from an Ian McEwan novel? How many unreliable narrators do we have here? Read-alikes: AUDITION by Katie Kitamura LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION by Ben Lerner   Coming up: LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe Follow us! Email: Booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras  Substack: Books On The Go Credits Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz

ESSENTIEL, les rendez-vous du jeudi – Un monde de livres Émission présentée par Josyane Savigneau qui reçoit Olivia Elkaim pour plusieurs de ses livres et Christine Jordis pour son livre « Passion anglaise - Lire, voyager, rêver » aux éditions Bouquins. À propos du livre : « Passion anglaise - Lire, voyager, rêver » paru aux éditions Bouquins Un voyage érudit et sensible au cœur de la Grande-Bretagne d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, de sa littérature, de ses paysages. Passion anglaise donne à lire deux des ouvrages les plus reconnus de Christine Jordis consacrés à une littérature qui ne cesse de nous fasciner. Les voici réunis autour d'une même célébration de la langue et des écrivains d'outre-Manche dans une édition totalement révisée et mise à jour. Ce n'est pas seulement à la découverte d'une fabuleuse histoire littéraire que nous invite cette critique hors pair : se devine également la relation intime, presque organique, qui la lie à une culture devenue pour elle, depuis l'enfance, une seconde patrie. Gens de la Tamise et d'autres rivages dessine un panorama sensible et complet du roman britannique des XXe et XXIe siècles, Commonwealth inclus. De Joyce et Conrad aux talents contemporains, tels Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, Arundhati Roy ou Sally Rooney, l'autrice explore les lignes de force, les singularités et les variations d'une production littéraire en mouvement constant. À la lumière de ce que la France lit, traduit, retient – et de ce qu'elle oublie – sont révélés quelques écarts de perception entre les deux rives de la Manche. Avec Promenades anglaises, l'angliciste se fait voyageuse. Des falaises de Douvres aux landes du Yorkshire, des cités ouvrières du Nord aux campagnes du Devon, Christine Jordis semble croiser Emily Brontë, Jane Austen ou Virginia Woolf, surprend en haut d'un arbre le sourire du chat du Cheshire, rencontre à Glastonbury des excentriques de tout poil, participe devant les pierres de Stonehenge à la " nuit du champ des haricots "... Mais ces paysages ne sont jamais figés dans la carte postale : ils disent aussi l'évolution d'un pays, ses métissages, ses fractures, ses silences. Hommage vibrant aux écrivains aimés, ce volume appelle à se replonger dans les classiques comme à découvrir des voix nouvelles. Une invitation enchantée à la lecture comme art de vivre.

Beth Golay speaks with Ian McEwan on his novel, "What We Can Know." Plus, Suzanne Perez reviews "The Midnight Show" by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne.

One hundred years in the future, a lonely British scholar longs for our time as he chases a poem written in 2014. He's captivated by what he imagines were the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. It's the carefully plotted literary novel, “What We Can Know” by Ian McEwan.

We swing by the SPIDER-MAN NOIR series trailer (AMAZON PRIME), glove up with the 2026 revival series of SCRUBS (DISNEY+), preview FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL AUSTRALIA 2026, recite Ian McEwan's Science Fiction novel WHAT WE CAN KNOW (JONATHAN CAPE - PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE 2025) and play with Keza MacDonald's gaming history book SUPER NINTENDO (GUARDIAN FABER 2026)

Julian Barnes says his new novel is his final. It's called Departure(s), and it's about two people who fall in love when they're young and then meet again decades later. The story is told through the perspective of a writer named Julian … who has a lot in common with the author himself. The book was released on Julian's 80th birthday, and after four decades of writing and a Booker Prize win under his belt, Julian is finally putting down the pen. This week, he joins Mattea Roach to reflect on his literary legacy, why he feels less afraid of death and his recent secret wedding. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Ian McEwan has hope for humanity — here's why For Jeanette Winterson, stories are essential to survival Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

What a delight to talk to laura thompson about Agatha Christie. Above all, this episode was fun. Laura really does know more than anyone about Agatha and we covered a lot. What did Agatha Christie read? What did she love about Shakespeare? Was she pro-hanging? Why so much more Poirot than Marple? Why was she so productive during the war? We also talked Wagner, modern art, the other Golden Age writers, nursery rhymes, TV adaptations, poshness, nostalgia, Mary Westmacott, and plenty more. TranscriptHENRY OLIVER: Today I am talking to the very splendid Laura Thompson. All of you will know Laura's Substack. She has also written books about the Mitfords, heiresses, Lord Lucan, many other subjects, and most importantly today, Agatha Christie, who died 50 years ago. And there's a new book coming from Laura about Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance.Laura, welcome.LAURA THOMPSON: So lovely to be here, Henry. I'm such a fan of your Substack, as you know.OLIVER: Well, same. Same. This is a mutual admiration call.THOMPSON: Well, thank you. Well, that's what we like.Christie's Favorite WritersOLIVER: Now tell me, what did Agatha Christie like to read?THOMPSON: Oh, a lot the same as us. I discovered she was a huge fan of Elizabeth Bowen, as we are. And Nancy Mitford, Muriel Spark. But her big love really was Dickens. She absolutely adored Dickens. I mean, she grew up in a house full of books, you know, and she wrote a screenplay of Bleak House for which she was handsomely paid. And it was never—I know, don't you long to know what that was like? Can you imagine—OLIVER: We've lost it? We don't have the typescript?THOMPSON: I've never seen it. I mean, maybe—I don't know whether it exists somewhere. But I just wonder how she tackled it, what she did. But yes, so that happened. And of course, Shakespeare, as we know from her books, which are full of subliminal and—I mean, you kind of notice them, but you don't have to.OLIVER: Yes. There's Shakespeare in every book?THOMPSON: No, but it's there, particularly Macbeth, which I suppose figures.OLIVER: Yeah.THOMPSON: Like The Pale Horse is completely Macbeth themed. And when I was a kid reading them, I think she really—Tennyson she uses a lot—she affected my reading in a good way.OLIVER: She sent you back to Shakespeare and the poets?THOMPSON: Well, sent me to them as a kid, probably. And also, there's a lot of Bible in her books, as I'm sure you've noticed.OLIVER: Yes. Yes.THOMPSON: Very easy facility with quoting the Bible.Christie and ShakespeareOLIVER: Now, what did she learn from Shakespeare? Because she clearly knows the plays in detail. She sees them a lot. She reads them. She and he are, I think, quite good plotters.THOMPSON: Is she even better than he is?OLIVER: Well, let's not get into that. But there is a sort of, in a funny way, a kind of affinity between them as writers.THOMPSON: That's so interesting.OLIVER: What do you think she learned from him?THOMPSON: Tell me how you—how you see that.OLIVER: Well, do you know that Margaret Rutherford adaptation, which probably you don't like and I do—THOMPSON: Go on.OLIVER: It's called Murder Most Foul, isn't it?THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: And there's something about the way that they can both walk the line between the sort of dark and deadly and the histrionic. Margaret Rutherford can't walk that line, but Agatha Christie can, right?THOMPSON: That's really interesting.OLIVER: And Miss Marple could come onstage in a couple of the plays. She's not so far off from being a Queen Margaret or some—in her angry moments maybe, do you think?THOMPSON: More rational, maybe.OLIVER: Much more rational.THOMPSON: Not so mad. Well, she's not mad, Margaret, is she? But she's upset.OLIVER: She starts off as a much sort of nastier character—Murder at the Vicarage, right?THOMPSON: Yes, she does. She was more acidic and then gradually—OLIVER: Waspish.THOMPSON: Waspish, and sort of mellowed. I see what you mean. And almost in the way that she calls herself—although that's obviously not Shakespeare—calls herself Nemesis.OLIVER: And the sense of atmosphere.THOMPSON: Yes, and the way they're structured. That's not necessarily just true of Shakespeare, but there is this sort of act three entanglement and this beautiful act five resolution that goes on with a soliloquy, I suppose.OLIVER: And some people think they both get confused in act four, but that's obviously not true, that this is the real mess of the plot. I think she might have learned quite a lot from Shakespeare, right?THOMPSON: That's really interesting. But, you know, the way she writes about Shakespeare in her letters to her second husband, Max, because when she was living in London during the war and almost at her most productive—I mean, her productivity levels are insane. And hitting every ball for six, really, you know: Towards Zero, Five Little Pigs, a couple of Westmacotts, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But she spent a lot of time going on her own to see Shakespeare.She's very—I hope I'm right in saying this—she's very sort of Ernest Jones [CB1] in her approach. She doesn't regard them so much as the products of words on a page; she regards them as rounded characters. Why were Goneril and Regan the way they were? What's wrong with Ophelia? You feel like saying, “Well, whatever Shakespeare wanted it to be,” but she sees them in that way. And Iago particularly—OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: —is the one that gets her. Yes. In one of her, I better not say which, but a major, major novel.And the book that she wrote under the name Mary Westmacott, The Rose and the Yew Tree, which I think might well be her best book of all. I think—well, I'll just say she wrote these six books under a pseudonym, Mary Westmacott. People call them romantic novels; that's sort of the last thing they are. And they're very, very interesting mid-20th-century human condition novels, and they're full of lots of stuff that she had to distill for the detective fiction. And she talks a lot about Iago in The Rose and the Yew Tree really interestingly, I think.Christie on Shakespeare?OLIVER: Now, Max said she should just write a book about Shakespeare, all this Shakespeare all the time. But she didn't. Why?THOMPSON: No. I don't think she ever liked being told what to do.OLIVER: [laughs]THOMPSON: His letters to her are quite annoying, aren't they?OLIVER: Yes, yes. I've only read what's in your book, but yes, I didn't warm to him.THOMPSON: I'm glad because people do. He gets a really good press even though he was unfaithful. But it worked, the marriage, because they both got what they wanted from it. But he said that, yes, and she says, “Oh no, they're just thoughts for you.” I don't think she would've felt the need, somehow. I think she liked saying things in her own more oblique way.OLIVER: Save it for the novels.THOMPSON: Yes, she's a great mistress of the indirect, I think, really. The way she writes about Macbeth in The Pale Horse, which I think is a really underrated novel, including thoughts on how it should be staged, which are really interesting and very, very good. I think she would've preferred to do that and use it to her ends.And of course, she has an incredibly powerful sense of evil, which I suppose is also in Shakespeare. Hers is a Christian sensibility, I mean, no question. People never talk about that, but it really is.OLIVER: Was she pro hanging?THOMPSON: Well, I think she took a kind of utilitarian approach that the innocent must be protected. And she took a view that if you've killed once, it becomes very easy to kill again because something in you has shifted, so you become a danger to the community. So I suppose in that sense she was.I mean, Miss Marple was. She's quite—“I really feel quite glad to think of him being hanged.”OLIVER: It's one of her most striking lines.THOMPSON: It is, isn't it?OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: So I suppose she was. I mean, I suppose she was. You know, she's very modern, she's very subtle in her thinking, but at the same time, she is a late Victorian product of her society. Yes.Dickens and Christie's FamilyOLIVER: Now, you mentioned this Bleak House script. She loved Bleak House. Do we know what she loved about it? It's obviously the first detective novel. Are there other factors?THOMPSON: You are going to know—this is when I'm going to start coming across as an idiot. Is it written before The Moonstone? Yes, of course it is.OLIVER: I think so. Yes. Yes. It's the first time there's a police detective in a major English novel.THOMPSON: Okay. I think she—do you know, this is a really good question. I don't actually know why she loved Dickens so much. She grew up—she had that rather intriguing upbringing whereby she had two much older siblings, a sister who was 11 years older, a brother who was 10 years older. Father died when she was 11.So she grew up incredibly close with a really rather intriguing mother, Clara. This is in the house at Torquay. And her mother encouraged her in a way that, it seems to me, quite unusual for the time and for the class to which she belonged. Because it was never deemed that it would interfere with her marrying and leading a more conventional life. But she always wanted to express herself creatively. And I think her mother possibly was a frustrated creative. I don't know. She had a lot of go in her.And whether it was just something she read with—I think anything she did at an early age with her mother would've made a huge impression on her. I think what you read when you're that age, you never quite—I never read Dickens at that age, so I've never quite got the habit.OLIVER: But if she's born in 1890, presumably her mother is just about old enough to have been alive when Dickens was alive. And so she's got a somewhat direct—THOMPSON: Yes, she was.OLIVER: You know, it's sort of back to the original culture of it, as it were.THOMPSON: Yes. Isn't that extraordinary?OLIVER: Yes. Yes. It's crazy to think. So she must have taken it in maybe in a more original way, somehow?THOMPSON: Possibly. Certainly Tennyson, I get that feeling, because her mother wrote this rather leaden sub-Tennysonian poetry. [laughter] It's like Tennyson on the worst day he ever had, but worse than that.OLIVER: But worse, yes.THOMPSON: Yes. And she wrote poetry like that, the mother, which is really rather sweet and touching to read. And obviously she would've been alive at the same time as Tennyson. So, yes, I'd never, ever thought of that before. Isn't that extraordinary? I mean, they went to see Henry Irving.OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: Yes. And yet she feels—it just amazes me, this—so I'm leaping slightly here, but this 21st-century halo of cool that she has around her, Agatha Christie. [laughter] I know, it's awful in a way, but the way she can be reinterpreted—that is a bit Shakespearean, in a way.I don't mean to make extravagant claims, but there's a sort of translucent quality to what she writes that means that people can impose and pull it and twang it and know that she won't let them down, as we are seeing constantly at the moment.Art and MusicOLIVER: Yes. No, I agree. Other arts—we know about all this, she loves reading. What music did she enjoy, for example? Did she like paintings?THOMPSON: Yes, she loved paintings. She liked modern art. She was painted by Kokoschka. It's very good. And she writes about modern art. In Five Little Pigs, the painter in that is a modern artist.And then music was her grand passion. I mean, music was her original career choice, as you know, of course. She must have had a good voice. She thought she could make a career of it. And she could play the piano. Beautiful piano at Greenway, it's still there.And they used to do this thing—I think it's a lovely idea—as a family. They would fill in what they called the book of confessions, and it would be questions like, “What is your state of mind? If not yourself, who would you be?” And at the age of 63, which is the last time she filled it in, she wrote, “An opera singer.” So that was still what she would've dreamed of doing. She loved Wagner very, very deeply.OLIVER: Okay. Interesting.THOMPSON: And there's a Wagner theme in a very late book, Passenger to Frankfurt, the one that everybody hates except me. And music, I mean, as a girl when—so her voice wasn't strong enough for opera. I think her ultimate—same as I grew up wanting to be a ballet dancer, I think her ultimate would've been to sing Isolde at Covent Garden.And in some of her short stories and in her first Mary Westmacott, which is called Giant's Bread, which is about a musician—and she really inhabits this character, Vernon, and it's all about modern music. And somebody who knew about this stuff, which I don't, told me, “No, she knew. She knew what was going on. She knew about the trends.” This is in the late twenties.And she always went to Beirut, and that was her real, real, real passion. She was one of those restlessly creative people. And her mother, God bless her, encouraged it.Christie's UniquenessOLIVER: What is it that distinguishes her from the other detective fiction writers? Because she doesn't, to me, feel—she's obviously part of this whole generation, this whole golden age, whatever you want to call it, but she doesn't feel the same as them somehow.THOMPSON: No.OLIVER: What is that?THOMPSON: Do you think it's her simplicity, that distilled simplicity that she has? She doesn't write linear; she writes geometric, I always think.OLIVER: Tell me what you mean.THOMPSON: Well, if you think of a book, the one I admire the most, as I constantly go on about, which is Five Little Pigs—you think about the amount of stuff that's in that book. It's a meditation on art versus life. The solution is unbelievably intriguing, I think. There's a whole family psychodrama in there. And every move of the plot, she's also moving on a—every move of the plot is impelled by a revelation of character. So plot and character are utterly intertwined, distilled together.I don't think any of the others can do that. I think Dorothy Sayers would take twice as many pages. And she'd dot every i and cross every t, and she couldn't bear loose ends or anything, could she? And she liked to reveal her knowledge of other things, almost to—I think the others like you to know that they're a bit better than the genre, maybe. Their detectives are superhuman, almost; wish-fulfillment man, almost.She doesn't do that with Poirot. He's just pure omniscience, really, plus a few tics and traits and, you know, mustache. I think it's that distillation and simplicity and the way she inhabits the genre in a way that the others don't quite do. And at the same time, she's redefining it from within.OLIVER: There's something as well, I think, about—she gets past the kind of Sherlock Holmes model in a different way. They still all have a bit of an overreliance on that, maybe.THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: Whereas Poirot in, what is it? In something like, is it Murder in the Mews? Very sort of Sherlock and Watson—THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: —kind of dynamic. But within, I don't know, two or three novels, that's gone, and he's Poirot as we know him, as it were.THOMPSON: Yes, yes.OLIVER: And she kind of, as you say, makes it her own thing and goes off in new directions.Christie and the TheaterTHOMPSON: Yes. She's sort of conceptual and the others aren't quite, I think. She doesn't do—she does something completely different with the whole concept of what a solution is, it seems to me. She doesn't—it's not Cluedo, is it? It's not, there's six of them, and eventually it has to be one of them; however many tergiversations or however you say that word, you sort of know that. Whereas with her, it's: it's nobody, or it's everybody, or it's the policeman, or it's a child, or there's something bigger and bolder going on.And she writes—I think she writes very theatrically. I think she writes scenically. I think she's incredibly good at character and action. That scene where you know the girl's a thief because Poirot leaves out 23 pairs of silk stockings, and he goes back in the room and there's 19 or something like that, tells you everything. It's all in there.OLIVER: The solution to 4.50 from Paddington, which we shan't reveal, but—THOMPSON: That's Cards on the Table. But what I mean is, she's given us a little scene that tells us all we need to know about that person, really: a sort of timid thief who can't resist—OLIVER: Yes, but that's what I'm saying. At the end of 4.50, the solution is staged.THOMPSON: Oh, sorry. Yes.OLIVER: It is literally a little re-creation of the drama, if you see what I mean.THOMPSON: Yes, I do. Sorry, Henry. Yes, absolutely.OLIVER: No, no. We're crossed wires.THOMPSON: Yes, yes, yes.OLIVER: But she is very theatrical, yes.THOMPSON: No, you are absolutely right. That's a reenactment.OLIVER: Of something that was seen almost like in a—you know, the whole thing is very—THOMPSON: Yes, yes. Well, she was a great—I mean, obviously Shakespeare, but she was a great lover of the theater as a medium. And of course, she wrote plays, as we know, which I think are far weaker than her books, myself.OLIVER: Even The Mousetrap?THOMPSON: Especially. [laughter] When did you last see it? Or have you not—OLIVER: I've seen it once. I've seen it—you know, I don't know, before I had children, a long time ago. And I thought it was great. It was a lot of fun. The ending of act one, when someone opens a door and they say, “Oh, it's you.” It's very dramatic moments. You don't like it?THOMPSON: No, I think you're right. I wouldn't mind seeing it done really, really well. There's something strong at the heart of it, that theme that haunts a lot of her books about what happens to children who are unwanted.OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: Which is in loads of her—no, not loads. It's in Ordeal by Innocence. It's in Mrs. McGinty. That's, I think, because that happened to her mother. Her mother was given away as a child. Her own mother was a poor widow and gave up her daughter to be raised by her rich sister, which is not—it's not abandonment, but I think—OLIVER: Well, yes.THOMPSON: — it's not great. And I think all these things were absorbed by Agatha as a child. She grew up in what we would today call a house of—I hate this—strong women. I hate that “strong woman” thing, but they were strong women. Her mother was very, you know, as we've said, a sort of driving little person. And the rich grandmother, the poor sister, the dynamic there, they both fed into Miss Marple.And then her older sister, Madge, who was a big personality and actually had a play on in the West End before Agatha did, which I've always thought was extraordinary, just to write a play and have it on in the West End in 1924.And the men were—the father was feckless and charming and a rather grand New Yorker, he grew up as, and then settled in Torquay. And the brother was the Branwell Brontë. [laughter] He ended up a drug addict, which is also a type that feeds into her fiction: the man who could have made something of his life and goes wrong.The TV AdaptationsOLIVER: So all this theatricality in the books is obviously why she adapts so well to TV, and again, a lot of the others don't.THOMPSON: Yes, that's true.OLIVER: How famous would she be now without the TV adaptations?THOMPSON: Well, by 1990, so the centenary, she was a hell of a lot less—and that's really when the Poirots got going, which she never wanted. She never wanted—she didn't really want Murder on the Orient Express. It was only because it came via Lord Mountbatten. I don't know. I don't know because I think they're mostly not very good. I don't know what you think about the adaptations. But maybe that's deliberate, that they're less—if they drove you back to the books, you'd probably get quite a pleasant surprise.OLIVER: It's hard for me to say because I saw them all more or less after I'd finished reading her.THOMPSON: What did you think?OLIVER: I love Joan Aiken—not Joan Aiken, what's she called?THOMPSON: Yes, Joan Hickson is marvelous. Yes, absolutely.OLIVER: Hickson. I think she's just perfect because as you say, the simplicity, the not overstating. The “Pocketful of Rye” episode where she turns up and quotes the Bible, and the vicious older sister is there, and they have that moment. It's all so cleanly done.THOMPSON: Yes, I agree.OLIVER: David Suchet, I quite like him. I think he has those wonderful moments. “I cannot eat these eggs. They are not the same.” I think that's very good. It's very funny, you know, he gets it.THOMPSON: You prefer him in spats and art deco mode to when he became—he became like a de facto member of the House of Atreus by the end, hadn't he? It had gone very, very—OLIVER: I mean, I certainly didn't watch them all, no, no.THOMPSON: No. Well, I sort of had to.OLIVER: Yes, you did.THOMPSON: But I could never get through those short story ones. I don't think I've ever got—OLIVER: The moral sort of doom of it all, yes.THOMPSON: Well, the early ones, when they always had—you could see they'd hired a car for the day. [laughter] And I don't think I've ever got to the end of one of those.But I think—sorry, going back to your question, I think they probably did make a massive difference. You know, they're really, really popular. And whether she would have—what you think her—she might be read as much as somebody like Sayers if it weren't for all those adaptations. But then the fact of all those adaptations tells its own story in a way, because that wouldn't happen to one of the others, as you rightly said.Resurgence and PopularityOLIVER: No, they don't have that quality. And also, she was bigger than them. That's why they picked her, because she was bigger than them anyway.THOMPSON: And simpler. Because when I used to read them at university between the pages of Beowulf or whatever, like porn, [laughter] it was a bit mal vu. You read her for entertainment. But you certainly—I don't think—she's always been admired by a certain kind of French intellectual, hasn't she, for that subtextual quality that she has, that sort of fathomless quality that she has.But when I researched that biography, which I started in 2003, I can remember going on the radio. And names will not be named, but I was like a figure of fun with a couple of other detective writers, quite well known, who just sort of openly mocked me for taking her seriously and more or less said, “Oh yeah, we love her, but she's terrible” kind of thing. “Why are you taking her seriously?” I mean, it was regarded as a bit of a joke to take her seriously.I'm not saying I changed the game or anything like that, but I think there must have been a movement around that time in the early twenty-naughties—whatever the damn thing, decade's called—to start seeing that she is an interplay of text and subtext, facade and undercurrents, and these powerful foundations that underpin her books. Murder on the Orient Express is, you know, “Does human justice have the right to exert itself when legal justice has let it down?”There are these very strong—I think this is part of why she's survived the way she has. We intuit powerful truths underneath the Christie construct, if you like. I always say she's not real, she's true. I think she's incredibly wise about human nature, possibly more than any of them.You take a book like Evil Under the Sun, and there's a femme fatale who's murdered. “Oh, the femme fatale. No man can resist her.” Turns out she can't resist men. She's prey; she's not a predator. And of course, women who are so dependent on their looks and so on, that is what they are. They are prey. They're not predators. They're very, very vulnerable. Just a really small thing like that. And I just think, oh, you're very—there's so much easy wisdom in there somehow.And she deploys it perhaps differently—I mean, Ruth Rendell is wise, but it's very, “I am wise and you're going to pay attention to me.” You know what I mean? It's all very, “I'm very dark and very wise and very,” you know. I love her, but everything's so easy with Agatha. It's so, to coin a phrase, two tier. You can read them and have fun with them. You can read them and there's so much stuff going on underneath, and yet she presents this smooth face. I don't think any of the others are quite that resolved, if you like.Self-AdaptationsOLIVER: Now, you wrote that her own stage adaptations of The Hollow and Five Little Pigs lack the subtlety of the original books, quote, “almost as if Agatha herself did not realize what made them such good books.” How much of her talent do you think was unconscious in that way?THOMPSON: Yes. That's such a good question. I do think that, about those plays, it could have been that she just thought, “That's not what my audiences are going to want from me. They're just going to want to be entertained by”—we know she can do the other thing because of her Mary Westmacott books, where everything is laid out. They're not distilled at all; they're quite the opposite.I think they must have been such a pleasure for her to write because she didn't have to constantly—they're unresolved; they ask questions that don't have to be answered. She could have done that with those plays, I'm sure, but I think she would've thought people aren't coming to see them for that. I think she had a very good opinion of herself, in the best possible way.OLIVER: Hmm.THOMPSON: Like I said to you earlier, she didn't take a lot of notice of anything anybody said to her. Because it is like writing this other little book, the one I've just done about 1926. She was very acclaimed right from the start. I didn't emphasize that enough in the biography. And she was really recognized as very special right from the start.And I think it's extraordinary to me how—it's so difficult for us today, isn't it? We're so at the mercy of “That won't sell, don't do that, blah, blah, blah.” She really did not just plow her own furrow, but create that furrow in a way that you can only compare with, like, Lennon and McCartney. Or whether the time was absolutely right that they let her run, they trusted her to do what she wanted, and because she had the gift of pleasing readers . . .You do really feel, although those books are very tight and taut, you do feel an instinctive ease in what she's doing, an instinctive sort of—there's a kind of liberated—which sounds perverse because they are so controlled, the books. But I always feel she's doing exactly what she wants to do because she knows what it is and she knows how to do it. Because I think, would she be amazed that you and I are having this conversation now? I don't know that she would be, really. What do you think?OLIVER: No, I agree with you. I think she had what Johnson said, the felicity of rating herself properly. I think she knew she was really good.THOMPSON: You might know he'd say it right.OLIVER: Yes. [laughs] But there's a—I think there must have been something about—I think it's in Poirot's Christmas, one of those, where someone gets killed in the night in their bedroom, and they go up. And one of the women says, “Who would've thought the old man had so much blood in him?”And the quotation just sort of occurs to—I think there's quite a lot of that in Christie, right? Things are coming up and it fits. And she's good enough to run on instinct at times.THOMPSON: That's right. That's it. Exactly. That's absolutely right. Like the way she quotes from the—yes, I love the bit when she quotes from the Book of Saul in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, which is really quite a profound novel about whether—I mean, it's terribly timely—whether it's better to be run by a corrupt capitalist or to let in the radicals. And as I said in the biography, the corrupt capitalist wins on points. But then another element enters, which is what power does to people. And that's when she quotes from the Book of Saul.And it's just like you said, this—an instinctive that she—I do always feel her as an instinctive writer, even though—her notebooks are intriguing because obviously some plots she really has to work away at. And yet they feel felicitous. A coup like The ABC Murders, and she's really—that went through lots and lots of iterations. But what she'll often do is scribble down a line of dialogue, a line of “There they are.” It's the whole—it's not bullet points, which is a loathsome concept. It reminds me of a bee going from flower to flower and knowing exactly which—and she's got this gift of knowing what flowers we're going to need.I sometimes fear I overdo it. I don't want be like one of those people who's writing a PhD on, what was the thing I said on Substack, gynocracy in St. Mary Mead or whatever. It's not—I do think that's a bit overdone these days, the rummaging in the subtext, because she's an interplay. And that's why I write that chapter in the book called “English Murder,” which is about the facade, you know, “smile and smile and be a villain.” And there's nothing more interesting. There's nothing more interesting than murder among classes who are trying to cover things up.And she does that—that's at the heart of golden age murder, I suppose. And I just think she does that better than anybody because she's so all the things we've been talking about. She's so distilled, she's so simple, she's so smooth, she's so instinctive. And she's doing it the way she wanted to do it because of your wonderful Dr. Johnson quote. She knew not to take notice of other people, including her—Quick Opinions on ChristieOLIVER: Should we have—THOMPSON: Yes. Go on.OLIVER: Sorry, sorry. Should we have a quick-fire round?THOMPSON: Please.OLIVER: I will say the name first of a few of her books—THOMPSON: Oh, god.OLIVER: —and then a few other detective writers, and you will just give us your unfiltered opinion: good, bad, ugly, indifferent.THOMPSON: Okay. What fun.OLIVER: You can “nothing” them if you want to.THOMPSON: Okay. [laughter]OLIVER: Hallowe'en Party.THOMPSON: Underrated. Very interesting on sixties counterculture and the effects of societal breakdown, et cetera. What do you think?OLIVER: I think it's a real page turner. I remember reading that for the first time. I loved it. Yes. Nemesis.THOMPSON: I can't keep saying the same thing. Underrated. [laughter] Very interesting philosophy of love in that book, I think. I think it harks back to her first marriage. However badly it turns out, it's better to have experienced it. It's quite a mournful novel.OLIVER: The Mr. Quin—THOMPSON: Oh.OLIVER: Oh, sorry.THOMPSON: No, no. Sorry. You carry on. Marvelous. So inventive, don't you think? Such a clever character.OLIVER: Why didn't she do more of him?THOMPSON: Yes, that would've been good. And she was always interested in the commedia dell'arte. She wrote poems about it as a girl. And the concept of Mr. Quin, yes, as this sort of evanescent figure who's also a moral force, isn't he really? Or—yes, I wish she'd done more. They're marvelous.OLIVER: Towards Zero.THOMPSON: Oh, top notch, don't you think?OLIVER: One of the best.THOMPSON: Yes, I agree. Frightening motive. Very Ruth Rendell.OLIVER: It's very distinct in her. I haven't read all of her novels, but it's very distinct.THOMPSON: But the plot is, again, typical of her because it redefines the word contingent. [laughs] I mean, Dorothy Sayers would be having palpitations. She's very bold and grand like that. “Oh, there's a loose end. Oh, who cares?” You know, I mean, it's so—it just drives along that book, doesn't it? Yes. But I agree with you, one of her best.OLIVER: Death on the Nile.THOMPSON: Quite moving, I think. I think it's one of those ones from the thirties that, again, is talking about love in a way that—I think it just strikes a personal note to me because she was very in love with her first husband, Archie Christie. And he did fall in love with another woman, and it did cause her extreme pain that some people said to me she never quite got over.And I feel that a little bit in that book. There's a shadow of something quite powerful in that book, I think. Again, very, very loose and lovely plot, but powerful. Would you agree? Very good on the place as well, I think, Egypt.OLIVER: I love it. I think the solution is great.THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: And it makes a really good film.THOMPSON: It's a great film, yes. Wonderful film.Other Mystery WritersOLIVER: Yes. Okay. A few other detective writers: Michael Innes.THOMPSON: You've got me. I haven't read him. Should I?OLIVER: Oh, I think you will like him. Yes. Try Hamlet, Revenge!THOMPSON: Okay. Okay. Oh, I like it already.OLIVER: Yes, yes, yes. Oh, this is exciting. Gladys Mitchell.THOMPSON: Can't get into her.OLIVER: No.THOMPSON: What do you think? Should I try a bit harder?OLIVER: I read two. I thought they were good. I was not intrigued.THOMPSON: No, somebody told—OLIVER: The ones I read—Spotted Hemlock is a wonderful, like, wow, that's great.THOMPSON: Okay. Okay. Somebody said to me, I know she really—no, I didn't—I read it in a book that she really hadn't liked Agatha Christie, but you know, who knows? All that Detection Club rivalry, you can imagine. But okay, Spotted Hemlock—if I'm going to read one, try that, yes?OLIVER: Yes, that's a great book. Margery Allingham.THOMPSON: Kind of love her, but I never understand her plots. I always feel I'm in a bit of a fog, but she's quite a good writer. Do you think? Or what do you think?OLIVER: She's good at the fog. She's good at that sort of whirligig sense that there's a lot going on—THOMPSON: Yes, whirligig.OLIVER: —and you've got to get to the end before they do, kind of thing.THOMPSON: Also, she had a pub in her sitting room. Now, I like a woman who has a pub in their sitting room.OLIVER: [laughs] E. C. Bentley.THOMPSON: You've got me again, Henry.OLIVER: Oh, The Blotting Book mystery. You'll like this.THOMPSON: Okay. Okay.OLIVER: The other one is not so good, but you'll like that a lot.THOMPSON: Okay.OLIVER: Edmund Crispin.THOMPSON: Didn't get on with him.OLIVER: Why not?THOMPSON: Don't know. Don't know. It sounds like I don't read the men, doesn't it? Which is not the truth at all.OLIVER: I think that's fair enough, isn't it?THOMPSON: Well, I don't know. I don't think anyone's ever come up with a really good reason why women have shone so brightly in this genre. I don't know. Why didn't I—I read that one, the toyshop one [The Moving Toyshop] or whatever. I don't know. I just didn't get on with it.OLIVER: Too glib?THOMPSON: Possibly.OLIVER: Bit flippant, bit sort of funny-funny?THOMPSON: Possibly. I just couldn't quite get hold of it in some way. I don't know.OLIVER: I quite like Edmund Crispin, but I do think he's got a bit of a “he's a very clever boy” about him.THOMPSON: Maybe that's what it was. Maybe that.OLIVER: Something, yes. G. K. Chesterton.THOMPSON: I haven't read Father Brown. Oh, this is awful, isn't it? I'm starting to sound like a radical feminist by accident.OLIVER: [laughs] Maybe that's what you are, Laura. Maybe you just need to admit it. [laughs]THOMPSON: No, it does. It sounds really bad because I do really love almost all the women. I just, I don't know why I haven't read him.Christie and NostalgiaOLIVER: Was Agatha a nostalgia writer?THOMPSON: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think anyone who was a nostalgia writer would've written At Bertram's Hotel, which is an entire spin on the riff of nostalgia. Really clever. I think that's such a clever book. The way she traps us in her golden age, you know, this phantasmagoria of the re-created golden age. And then she says, “Ha, really fooled you.”I've written about this. I think she moved with the 20th century far more than is realized. I love those Cold War novels she writes about her dislike of ideologies. I love her postwar books about the fragmentation of the hierarchical society. I think she's—well, she's an incidental social historian, as are, I think, P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, but they're much more underlined about it. Again, I'm intrigued what you think. Do you think she is?OLIVER: I think there's definitely some quality, particularly to the Miss Marple stories—as you say, the social history sort of becomes a way of preserving something that's disappearing. One of them, written in the sixties—you can tell me which one—it opens with that description of all the new houses in the village and the mothers who give their children cereal for breakfast. And what sort of a thing is that to give a child? They should have bacon and eggs. Bacon and eggs is a real—you know, and she does have a real something heartfelt and real sense that this part of England is going, and this new thing is coming in.THOMPSON: That's true. That's absolutely true. That's The Mirror Crack'd. And it's—OLIVER: The Mirror, yes, yes.THOMPSON: Yes, and that whole thing of Mrs. Bantry's house has now been bought by a film star and blah, blah, blah. Yes, no, you are absolutely right. I didn't think hard enough before I answered your question.OLIVER: But no, what you said is also true. I can't sort of work out to what extent she regrets it, to what extent it's just useful material for her, you know?THOMPSON: Both. I mean, some of her late books, including Endless Night, I think, which is an incredibly modern book—that whole “me, me, me” culture of “I want, therefore I will have now,” which is written when she was quite an old lady. And then a book like Passenger to Frankfurt, which is—it's a bit sub–Brave New World, but it's very honest and pessimistic about a future—well, the one we are living in, really—full of fear and uncertainty and almost dystopian.She was a realist. You know, she is Miss Marple in a lot of ways. She was a realist in a way that I think a lot of us would find it difficult to be. And her American publishers were often—would sort of say, can she tone this down? Can she not have a young person who's completely evil? Readers want to know, is she going get any therapy? [laughter] And it's so true. There's quite a lot of that going on.She's very clear-eyed. So if she—I'm a bit nostalgic for Blur, do you know what I mean? I mean, you can't help it, in a way, like that brilliant example you give at the start of The Mirror Crack'd. But I would say her image is quite at odds with the reality of her in that way. But the image—OLIVER: And the adaptations don't help with that.THOMPSON: No. No. But at the same time, that Christie image, you know, the gentlewoman, the tea or the eternal bridge party, blah, blah, blah, that has a huge power of its own. So just being too iconoclastic about her, I think, is also a lie. Because I think, again, it's that interplay. She used the image, and the image—I hate the word cozy. I loathe the word cozy, but there's no denying that any book of that kind does have that quality. So I suppose even that's nostalgic in a way.Christie's PoshnessOLIVER: In a way, yes. How posh was she?THOMPSON: Good question. I've been thinking about that a lot. Quite, I would say. Quite grand, with that confidence. Her father really was—as I said, he was a young blade in New York dancing with Jennie Jerome and blah, blah, blah. And then it so happened that he ended up in Torquay, which of course then was very posh. And the fact that when she disappears, she disappears to Harrogate, [laughs] which is like the Torquay of the north.I remember her grandson saying to me, “She dealt with her literary agent. To her, he was staff.” You know, that kind of thing. Her sister, there is a—well, her sister ended up very grand indeed with a huge house up in Cheshire.I think she just had that internal confidence, really. She wasn't—and that there wasn't much money. I mean, there was very little money when she was growing up, as of course you know, but that didn't matter. I mean, her voice is insane. Her voice is, [affecting a posh voice] “Oh, it's lucky it just happens.” [laughter] But yes, there's a part of her that is real late Victorian upper middle class that, again, underpins her books.It's amazing really how broad-minded and cosmopolitan she was. But possibly, I mean, possibly that does—she was—you know, when she disappeared, she was described in foreign newspapers as an Anglo-American, the embodiment of Englishness, and that's how she was described. And then of course she was genuinely cosmopolitan in her love of travel and her love of other cultures and all that obvious stuff. Yes.Inspirations for Miss MarpleOLIVER: How much of her grandmothers is in Miss Marple?THOMPSON: Quite a lot, I would say, particularly the—OLIVER: Drawn from life?THOMPSON: Well, in an essential way not, because Miss Marple has no real experience of life in that way. We're occasionally told about some chap who came calling who wasn't suitable or whatever, but she's almost defined by nonexperience of life in a sense, but observation of life. She's an observer. She's not an outsider in the way that Poirot is. She has a place within the social hierarchy and whatever, and that village has a reality to it. And the way it changes has a reality to it. But she is defined by being an observer, I would say.But Margaret Miller, who was the rich grandmother, who is the one who had the big house at Ealing and was—you know, she's the one who would go to the Army and Navy stores and all that stuff that's in At Bertram's Hotel. She was—there's a lot of her in Miss—I think, as I say in the book, she grew up with the sound of female wisdom in her ears. You know, her grandmother was the sort of—if she'd seen her up in Harrogate, she would've known exactly what was going on. You know, one of those kind of women who could spot an affair at a hundred paces, just a wise sort of woman, worldly, worldly woman.And Miss Marple is worldly in her thinking, but not in her experience, particularly in a book like A Caribbean Mystery, which I think is—she's a real sophisticate, Agatha. I mean, I'm reading The Hollow again at the moment. And it's really astounding to me how there's a love affair at the center of it with a young woman who's kind of a self-portrait and this married man. And not only, there's not—it's not only nonjudgmental; there's literally no concept of judgment being in the vicinity. It's really, really sophisticated, grown-up stuff, I think. And again, I think that's maybe not recognized about her that much.Nursery RhymesOLIVER: What are the importance of nursery rhymes to her?THOMPSON: Yes, that's interesting. They're part of that distilled quality she had, I suppose, that really simple ability to catch hold of something that is simple and familiar in itself and then subvert it. There's books where she—I don't think she needs it in Five Little Pigs. I think the book is almost too good for that.But is it not to do with that—like her titles, which are really, really simple with a faint frisson of the sinister about them. Is it not that ability she has to catch, to take something really, really simple and subvert it for her own ends? What do you think? Do you think that's right? Or do you think it's something more than that?OLIVER: No, I think the simplicity is the point, and I think it probably gives her a way of talking, of showing how fundamental the wickedness is. And as you say, the children can be evil, and it's part of the darkness in a way, but it gives the appearance of innocence and, oh, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe? You know, children do this. And so it leads you through and makes it worse somehow. [laughs]THOMPSON: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. But I know I've—how many times have I said the word simple? But I really do feel that's the heart of her. And I also feel it's the heart of why she was misunderstood when I was growing up reading her because it was mistaken for simplistic.Wartime ProductivityOLIVER: Why was she so productive during the war? I mean, there were four books one year.THOMPSON: Yes.OLIVER: And as you say, they're some of the best. I mean, what is it about the war that gets her so busy?THOMPSON: Well, she was on her own, which she had never been, really. Well, obviously she divorced her first husband in 1928. So there's a couple of very bleak, dead years before she met her second husband and married him in 1930. But she wasn't completely on her own because she had her friend Charlotte Fisher, who was a sort of secretary-companion, but much more than that—really, really good friend.But in the war, Max Mallowan was abroad. Her daughter—she had one child—her daughter was married and living in Wales. And she was living in the Isokon building in North London, which I love because that's like, “You think I'm chintzy and old fashioned. And here I am socializing with the sort of left-wing intelligentsia at the Isokon building.” And there's something about being in that adorable little flat—they're so fabulous, those flats—and being alone but not feeling abandoned, as she had after her first marriage.And I suppose also, you know, war is, you either cower in despair or you think, “Right, well, better get on with it.” War is stimulating in that way. I think it was to quite a few writers, maybe, or quite a few creatives. The shadow of death. But there was something about that solitude but not abandonment, plus the stimulation of not knowing whether it was your last day on earth that did—it did. I mean, it's absolutely insane how productive she is.And then she wrote—she had a week off. She was also working as a dispenser at a London hospital, and she had a week off. And she wrote a Mary Westmacott, Absent in the Spring, which is one of her best Westmacotts, I think. I mean, she's got a week off and she writes a book. I mean, Jesus, there's a challenge to us, Henry. [laughter]The Mary Westmacott NovelsOLIVER: What are those Mary Westmacotts like? Because I've never read them, but you seem very—THOMPSON: Oh, have you not?OLIVER: You're very up on them. You like them?THOMPSON: I am. I really am. Well, for a biographer, they were a treasure trove because they're very revealing. Unfinished Portrait is, I think, as close as you are ever going to come to a true autobiography, as opposed to the actual autobiography, which is charmingly disingenuous.OLIVER: And also dull. No? I mean, it's just so dull.THOMPSON: Do you think? It is a bit.OLIVER: I couldn't read it. I couldn't read it. No, it was so long and so leaden. I felt like she didn't really want to tell me the story of her life. Just couldn't.THOMPSON: Well, I think that's probably right. It was very heavily edited after her death. And her daughter was very, very protective of her. So, Max Mallowan as well. So maybe there was a much better book in there somewhere. Who knows?OLIVER: So we should read Mary Westmacott if we want the unfiltered Agatha?THOMPSON: I would say Unfinished Portrait. It really fascinates me because the worst time you've ever gone through in your life—so in 1926, she lost her mother and her husband in the space of four months. And I think an awful lot of people, even writers, would think, “I'm going to put that behind me and get on.” But she had to reopen the wound. She had to go through it all again eight years later. I find that really, in itself, incredibly revealing about her.Poirot vs. MarpleOLIVER: Why is there so much more Poirot than Marple?THOMPSON: Yes, I've wondered that because there is this little thing that she hated him, which I don't really think she did. It's just something people say, isn't it?OLIVER: Well, it's a common thing about artists. They're supposed to hate their most successful work, but—THOMPSON: Yes. Yes. All I could come up with was that he was easier to put in different places. He could conceivably be on the Nile or in Mesopotamia or—I mean, it would be a—she does manage to get Miss Marple to the West Indies, but it's certainly—OLIVER: There are only so many holidays your nephew can send you on.THOMPSON: He was really successful, that nephew, wasn't he? Who do you think he was like? Sort of Ian McEwan or—OLIVER: [laughs] I know. It was sort of crazy, isn't it?THOMPSON: And very kind to her.OLIVER: It might be to her credit that she doesn't do a Midsomer Murders thing and just sort of wave away and say, “Oh, we can just have as many of these murders as we want.” She says, “No, we can only fit—” Do you think maybe that's it?THOMPSON: I think there might be a bit of that. I mean, her notebooks sort of—some of the books were originally Marples, like Cat Among the Pigeons and Death on the Nile, in fact. And then they became Poirots. I just wonder whether he's a bit more malleable because she is a more rooted, fixed entity.And he is—I don't mean to denigrate David Suchet because he's a fantastic actor, but he does root him more than I think the written version. I think he is a sketch on the page. And one of her great skills, I think, is how she can sketch, and they've got that quality of aliveness on the page, which you just can't analyze, really. I don't—well, I can't. And that's how I see Poirot. So he was more movable in that sense.And she's incredibly good at certain—like Sleeping Murder, there's no way you could have him in that. And Miss Marple is—her qualities are so perfect for a book like that, which has suddenly reminded me of how she got me into John Webster. I never read John Webster until—OLIVER: [laughs] That's great.THOMPSON: The way she uses The Duchess of Malfi is so clever. Do you think that's right about Poirot? Do you think there's something more . . .Reader Preferences and SalesOLIVER: I can see that. I wondered if there was some reader's prejudice involved.THOMPSON: Oh.OLIVER: Poirot is the sort of exotic—Sherlock Holmes, one thing that makes him popular is that he's a bit wacky, you know. And Poirot—he's always talking about, “You English are so xenophobic. Excuse me, I am Belgian.” And with the eggs and all the little—whereas Miss Marple's just the kind of old lady that we all wish there were more of. And how much of that will readers take? I don't know.THOMPSON: Yes. Although, as I say, she, she did—I mean, I think her publishers did like her to do Poirot, but I don't know that she would've been influenced by that necessarily. I mean, maybe she was—maybe I'm overdoing her—OLIVER: Well, she had these terrible money problems. Didn't she have to be a little bit focused on the dollar?THOMPSON: She did. She did, but she didn't—well, I mean, the money problems are insane because they were absolutely no fault of her own. They were to do with test cases, and it was just this sort of accumulation of horror that put her in tax problems during the war. And she really never could dig her way out of them and was advised to go bankrupt twice, which is unbelievable, just as a way of clearing it. I mean, it's terrible.But I don't know that she—I think her attitude was a bit more, “Well, why should I even bother if they're just going to take it away from me?” In 1948 she didn't write anything at all because I think she thought, “What's the point?” But then, that wasn't her way. But I don't know that she thought of writing as a way of digging out of it necessarily. But I could be—OLIVER: The Marples, did they make less money? Were they, did they sell less?THOMPSON: Not really. I think they all sold. Even poor old Passenger to Frankfurt sold hugely, absolutely hugely. I think people—I mean, my parents would—it was like people just wanted them, the Christie for Christmas.Rereading ChristieOLIVER: How many times have you read these books? Do you ever get bored?THOMPSON: No.OLIVER: Really?THOMPSON: Well, I have them on rotation, and I don't—as you know, I do interleave them with our beloved Elizabeth Bowen, who's my passion at the moment, and other people. But they are consolatory, I suppose. They are—there's bits of—there is this kind of—there's bits of them that I just know completely off by heart, like the gramophone record in And Then There Were None and all that.But there's something—and maybe I should have said this earlier, when I say—I've said it on Substack—that they're fairy tales for adults. There's something about that. There's an almost physical sensation of pleasure, really, when the resolution comes. It is a bit like act five of Shakespeare. I'm not going to say she's quite on that level. Not even I am going to say that.But there is—and it is like being a child again and reading the end toward the happy-ever-after, even though her happy-ever-afters are sometimes compromised. And there is something almost primal in that pleasure. And it almost sounds borderline mad, me saying it like that, but I do think there's something in it because the resolution is so—because it's character based, and at her best, she's character and plot as one, as in Five Little Pigs or The Hollow or Murder on the Orient Express or blah, blah, blah.Her resolutions do tell you something about human nature. You do think, “Oh, yes, that is what that would be. Yes, it would be all about money. Yes. Yes, doctors are untrustworthy,” or something on a more profound level than that. There's something that is a satisfaction, both childlike and I'm experiencing it as an adult. In my defense, P. G. Wodehouse said you can never read them too many times. [laughs] It doesn't matter if you know who did it. There's so much pleasure in them.Thompson's CareerOLIVER: Now, I want to ask a little bit about your career.THOMPSON: Mm-hmm.OLIVER: You were at a sort of stage school, then you studied at Merton, and then you worked at The Times.THOMPSON: Yes. Very briefly. Yes.OLIVER: How does one therefore go from all of this to being the biographer?THOMPSON: Well, I did always think I would have a career in—I wanted to direct plays. I directed Hamlet after university, which is probably the thing I'm still proudest of. But what it was, was that I wrote a couple of books. I won an award when I was quite young.And then I had an agent who—I said to him, “I want to write a biography of Nancy Mitford.” And he wasn't very keen on the idea, but I must have written an okay proposal. Again, because I thought Nancy Mitford was a little bit undervalued, that she's a lot more than just a posh girl. And at the time her reputation was quite low. And so somebody bought into that idea, and it sort of went from there, really.But it's a bit—I sometimes look back at the books I've written, including a memoir of my publican grandmother, and I think, gosh, this is all quite scatter-gun, but maybe that's okay. Maybe you should just write the books you really want to write. But it was a passion for Nancy Mitford that sort of started that particular ball rolling.And then I had the idea of—oh, no. I was down in Devon with a boyfriend, and he said, “You never stop talking about Agatha Christie. Why don't you try and write her biography?” And that was just a luck of timing because her daughter was still alive. So I met her, and she liked me because I knew the Mary Westmacotts so well, and that sort of happened. I mean, quite often these things are very fortuitous, don't you think? Did you not find that with your book?OLIVER: Yes, yes. No, I did. I did. I think some writers, as you say—I don't think of it as scatter-gun. I think of it, it's sort of an emergent thing, and you happen to have these different interests, and you just follow your nose, and that's fine.THOMPSON: Yes, exactly.OLIVER: Tell us about this production of Hamlet.THOMPSON: Oh. Do you know, I think it was not bad. I had a very good Hamlet. I think if you've—well, you're in trouble without—who is now quite a successful actor. And we were all really young, but he was—I saw him in something and said, “Do you want to play Hamlet for me?” And he said, “Okay then.” And it was a room above a pub in Chelsea, and it was very spare and very quick.And it was about—I can't bear when people overanalyze the character of Hamlet, and why does he delay? He delays because Shakespeare wants him to, so that he can write all those incredible speeches. That's a bit simplified, but it was—he was so, he so understood the translucent power of those soliloquies, this actor. So it just sort of worked because we didn't do too much to it. And it was, yes, it was good. I think it was good. But then I did Macbeth, and that was much less good.Secretly Reading ChristieOLIVER: And you've said here, and I think you said it in your book, that when you were at Merton, you were reading Agatha Christie between the covers of what you were supposed to be reading.THOMPSON: Yes, yes, I was.OLIVER: That can't be—is that a slight exaggeration, or did you really not get on with the syllabus?THOMPSON: Well, hang on. I was a bit stuck in the first term. Can you imagine coming from a performing arts school—OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: —and then being told, “Read that bloody, you know.OLIVER: Yes, yes. No, it's intense.THOMPSON: All I knew was French. How I got in is a minor mystery, but there it was. I've tried to do it honor ever since by writing as best books I possibly can. But I was okay once I got over that bit. Once I got into my beloved Tennyson and all the people we've been talking about, Hardy and blah, blah, blah. Larkin, about whom the best thing I've ever read—the best thing I've ever read about Larkin is your Substack about him, without a shadow of a doubt.OLIVER: Oh, thank you.THOMPSON: Just wonderful. So I sort of winged it a bit, but I had a very nice don. And the autodidact side of me, which is very like Agatha Christie, who barely went to school, and Nancy Mitford—I think it can be a good thing in a way, because you have such a respect for learning and truth. I always try to be truthful in my biographies, which as we know, not everybody is. [laughter]And I think you carry on wanting to learn and carry on wanting to fill all the gaps because I only had half an education, because in the morning you would do ballet and drama and all that kind of thing. So it is a bit odd, but in some ways I think it's been a good thing.OLIVER: Now, the new book is about the 1926 disappearance. When can we expect it to be published?THOMPSON: It's only a short book—OLIVER: Yes.THOMPSON: —because obviously I covered it a lot in the biography, and it doesn't—but I have found out a couple of new things. And that will be out in August here and in November in America. And I have come up with a slightly different slant on it, but mainly—and I treat it a little bit like a cold case. And it was—I had to write—I wrote it in five weeks, but it was incredibly good fun. Oh, and I reenacted her journey, which was very interesting, to Harrogate.But mainly it's such a pleasure because I, you know, on Substack, and I think, “Oh, you can't write about Agatha Christie again.” There always seems to be quite a lot to say. I'm intrigued by how you, who I think of as a true intellectual, how you have clear regard for her.Henry on Agatha ChristieOLIVER: I started reading her when I was about 12, and I just thought she was great, and I went through most of them. But I read them at intervals. So I was reading her into my twenties, thirties. And before this interview I tried to—I thought, “Laura's always saying Five Little Pigs is the best one. I'm going to read it.” And I just sort of found that I've lost the taste, in a way.THOMPSON: Okay.OLIVER: Which I was quite, I don't know, just maybe—I feel like this is my failing. Maybe I should take a week off and sit by the pool and read it properly. But I've always thought she's really, really great, and very few people can do that many very compelling stories without you sort of thinking, “Oh, I've read this one. I know. Yes. It's the same as the other one, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it was the”—as you say, it's not Cluedo. Even Dorothy L. Sayers, I don't think I could read much more by her, frankly. Great, she's great, but it's enough. [laughs]THOMPSON: Well, I quite like her. The whole—most girls who went to Oxford are quite keen on Gaudy Night, and the character of Harriet Vane is quite satisfying, I think.OLIVER: Indeed, indeed. And Strong Poison is great. And there—but I just mean if she'd written as many books as Agatha, you can't imagine it would've sustained the level of quality.THOMPSON: No, no. There is that lightness in Agatha and that terrible cliché of, “I wrote a long book because it was too—I didn't have enough time to write a short book,” and all that kind of thing. The brevity amazes me. When I said at the start, most writers would take twice as many pages to get all that in.She has style—I don't know if you can call it a style, but there is something blindingly effective about it that nobody can imitate. And it does—there's something so fathomless about her, and that's what continues to compel me. But I think it's very lovely of you to do this if you are no longer an admirer because you've let me sort of—OLIVER: Well, it's not that I'm not an admirer. It's just that I don't—I had this with P. G. Wodehouse. I read quite a lot of it, and now, I don't know, somehow I've reached a point where it's—I sort of get it, but it's just not that funny anymore. I don't know, just need some time away.THOMPSON: Well, maybe. Maybe, but you know, I'm a bit—she's part of my life now. It's like if somebody said, “You can't read her anymore,” it would be like, “You can't listen to the Rolling Stones anymore.” I mean, it'd be like a kind of death. She's part of my life the same way they're part of my life. She's now inseparable from just the way I go on, as is Shakespeare. And if I had to lose one of them, trust me, it would be her, you'll be reassured to know. [laughter]OLIVER: Very good. Laura, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you very much.THOMPSON: Oh, I've really enjoyed it. I really have. And I was really looking forward to it, and it's been even nicer than I thought it would be. So thank you.OLIVER: Oh, it's been delightful.THOMPSON: Thank you so much, Henry.OLIVER: Thank you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk

Bestselling author Marie Benedict is back with another wonderful historical fiction, titled Daughter of Egypt.  We are introduced to two remarkable women whom history nearly erased. One is Evelyn Herbert, who was present at the archaeological discovery of Tutankhamun's burial site, and the other is Hatshepsut, a powerful woman who ruled as Pharaoh during the 18th dynastyAuthor ReadsWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwan

If you had to tell a story to stay alive … what story would you tell? Jeanette Winterson's new book, One Aladdin Two Lamps, is a nonfiction exploration of storytelling, culture, politics and the things that make us human. It's based on the One Thousand and One Nights, the famous collection of Middle Eastern folk tales home to characters like Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. At the centre of it all is Scheherazade, a woman who tells a vengeful Sultan stories for 1001 nights to stop him from executing her. Like Scheherazade, Jeanette sees storytelling as a means of survival. In the book, she uses those tales to muse on the way that stories shape our identities and our lives … and how they're a tool to better ourselves and the world around us. Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Zadie Smith never thought she'd tell this story Ian McEwan has hope for humanity — here's why Check us out on Instagram @cbcbooks and TikTok @cbcbooks

In this episode, Shruti and Neha discuss What We Can Know, Ian McEwan's latest speculative novel about a lost poem, climate change, and the power of stories. We discuss this novel through the themes of memory and preservation, and talk about our differing opinions on some of the major twists in the novel.Shelf Discovery & Books Mentioned:Possession by A.S. ByattStation Eleven by Emily St. John MandelTo the Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfUniversality by Natasha BrownIf you would like to get additional recommendations, analyses, and behind-the-scenes content related to this and all of our episodes, subscribe to our free email newsletter on Substack.We love to hear from listeners about the books we discuss - you can connect with us on Instagram or by emailing us at thenovelteapod@gmail.com.This episode description contains links to Bookshop.org, a website that supports independent bookstores. If you use these links we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sinema yazarı ve çevirmen Fatma Cihan Akkartal ve yazar Hakan Bıçakcı ile Gece Vardiyası, ayda 2 defa Pazartesi akşamları karşınızda... 

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, Super-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami and Murderland by Caroline Fraser. 

Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan are widely celebrated as two of the finest writers of their generation. Along with Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro, they were included on Granta's prescient Best Young British Novelists list in 1993 and have gone on to write some of the most memorable novels of the past three decades. In January 2026 they came together to discuss the book that Barnes says will be his last, Departure(s). It follows a man named Stephen and a woman called Jean who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old. Barnes and McEwan will draw on the themes of the book to discuss topics including philosophy, art, the slipperiness of memory, the passage of time, mortality and grief.This was a rare opportunity to hear two of the most celebrated voices in contemporary British literature discussing their craft and reflections on life. This event was presented in partnership with Waterstones. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan are widely celebrated as two of the finest writers of their generation. Along with Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro, they were included on Granta's prescient Best Young British Novelists list in 1993 and have gone on to write some of the most memorable novels of the past three decades. In January 2026 they came together to discuss the book that Barnes says will be his last, Departure(s). It follows a man named Stephen and a woman called Jean who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old. Barnes and McEwan will draw on the themes of the book to discuss topics including philosophy, art, the slipperiness of memory, the passage of time, mortality and grief. This was a rare opportunity to hear two of the most celebrated voices in contemporary British literature discussing their craft and reflections on life. This event was presented in partnership with Waterstones. --- This is the first instalment of a two-part episode. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, the Spiders discuss the devastating Atonement, by Ian McEwan.

Zum Jahresende blicken die Literaturagenten zurück auf die Schönen Lesungen des Jahres 2026: erinnern sich an besondere Momente, erhellende Aussagen, Lesepassagen, die das Publikum im Großen Sendesaal berührten, nachdenklich stimmten, zum Lachen brachten. Zu hören sind u.a. Daniel Kehlmann, Wolf Haas, Maren Kroymann mit einer Lesung von Margaret Atwood, Dota Kehr und Volker Weidermann in der Hommage an Mascha Kaléko, Albrecht Schuch und Martin Wuttke in der Lesung aus "Westend" von Volker Kutscher und Kat Mensch, Ian McEwan, Ocean Vuong und Sabin Tambrea.

Ian McEwan's latest novel, “What We Can Know,” is many things at once: It's a science fiction imagining of a future world devastated by climate catastrophe; it's a literary mystery about a scholar's search for a long-lost poem; it's a deep dive into complicated marriages; and it's a meditation on how the past lingers and how history morphs with time.“It's the best thing McEwan has written in ages,” our critic Dwight Garner wrote in his review. “It's a sophisticated entertainment of a high order.”In this episode of the Book Review Book Club, the host MJ Franklin discusses “What We Can Know” with his colleagues Sarah Lyall (who profiled McEwan for the Book Review this year) and Leah Greenblatt. You can follow along, and add your own comments to the discussion here.Other Books mentioned in this discussion:“Atonement,” “Saturday,” “On Chesil Beach,” “The Comfort of Strangers,” “The Cement Garden” and “Enduring Love,” by Ian McEwan“Fleishman Is in Trouble,” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner“Fates and Furies,” by Lauren Groff“Marston Meadows: A Corona for Prue,” by John Fuller“How the Word Is Passed,” by Clint Smith“The Stranger's Child,” “The Line of Beauty” and “Our Evenings,” by Alan HollinghurstWe would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review's podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Laura de Weck, Wolfgang M. Schmitt, Philipp Tingler und – als Gast – die Philosophin und Bestseller-Autorin Barbara Bleisch diskutieren über «Die Verkrempelung der Welt» von Gabriel Yoran, «Was wir wissen können» von Ian McEwan, «Emma» von Jane Austen sowie «Hundesohn» von Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç. Ausserdem stellen sie sich ein paar Denkanstoss-Fragen aus «Jetzt sind Sie gefragt» von Rolf Dobelli. Wer heute einen Induktionsherd kauft, verbiegt sich beinahe die Finger auf den widerspenstigen Touchflächen und dürfte sich fragen: Wo sind eigentlich die simplen Drehknöpfe hin? Der Autor Gabriel Yoran hat mit «Die Verkrempelung der Welt» einen warenkritischen Essay geschrieben. Er stellt fest: Viele Produkte, die uns als Fortschritt verkauft werden, machen uns nur das Leben schwer. Sie sind: nichts als Krempel. Der britischer Star-Autor Ian McEwan, bekannt etwa für «Abbitte», ist 77 Jahre alt. Und seine Erzähllust ist nach wie vor ungebrochen. Auch mit seinem neuen Roman legt er ein komplexes, tiefgründiges und nicht zuletzt spannendes Werk vor: «Was wir wissen können» ist eine Dystopie, die im Jahr 2119 spielt, und handelt von einer etwas anderen Schatzsuche. Jane Austen, die berühmte englische Schriftstellerin, wäre dieser Tage 250 Jahre alt geworden. Austen gilt als Pionierin des Feminismus und als Vorreiterin moderner Erzählkunst. Grund genug, eines ihrer Werke erneut genauer zu betrachten: den Roman «Emma». Er handelt von einer jungen Frau, die beim Verkuppeln anderer selbst in Liebeswirren gerät. Der deutsche Autor Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç hat bislang vor allem Lyrik geschrieben. Nun legt er mit «Hundesohn» seinen ersten Roman vor. Er handelt von Zeko, einem jungen queeren Moslem, der in Berlin lebt und mit der Zerrissenheit zwischen verschiedenen Kulturen, Sprachen und Lebensweisen ringt – und sich nach seiner grossen Liebe Hassan sehnt. Die Bücher der Sendung sind: – Jane Austen: «Emma» (S.Fischer); – Rolf Dobelli: «Jetzt sind Sie gefragt» (Diogenes); – Ian McEwan: «Was wir wissen können» (Diogenes); – Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç: «Hundesohn» (Suhrkamp); und – Gabriel Yoran: «Die Verkrempelung der Welt» (Suhrkamp). Über die Bücher diskutieren Moderatorin Laura de Weck, die Kritiker Wolfgang M. Schmitt und Philipp Tingler sowie – als Gast – die Philosophin und Bestseller-Autorin Barbara Bleisch. «Was müssten Sie tun, damit Sie mehr Freude an sich hätten?»: Derartige Fragen stellt der Schweizer Unternehmer und Autor Rolf Dobelli in «Jetzt sind sie gefragt». Seite für Seite ein erfrischender Denkanstoss. Ein Buch zum Innehalten, ideal für die Zeit zwischen den Jahren.

It’s the final show of the year, and the Christian O’Connell Show is emptying the tank. Christian fires off his favourite picks of 2025, from the “sensational” Wicked to the gut punch power of The Handmaid’s Tale. Alex wades in with his own obsessions: The Mushroom Daily and Ian McEwan’s What Can We Know. The team trade their best books, TV shows and music of the year, share a few surprises, and wrap it all with a massive washer dryer giveaway. Last show of the year, zero coasting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Episode 213, Sarah and Chrissie (@ChrissieWhitley) wrap up the year with the Best Books of 2025 Genre Awards. They reveal their Overall Best Books (Fiction and Nonfiction) and a full breakdown by genre, including: Best Literary Fiction, Best Romance, Best Brain Candy, Best Genre Mash-Up, and more! Plus, they share the winners for these same genres as chosen by the Sarah's Bookshelves Live Member Community. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Announcements The 2026 Reading Tracker is out! This year brings upgraded features across the board — including NEW average star rating and 5-star book tracking for every stat on the Dashboard — plus an updated Lite Tracker for those who prefer a streamlined version. Both Trackers are ONLY available to paid Patreon or Substack subscribers ($7/month) and is no longer sold separately. To avoid Apple's 30% fee, be sure to join directly from the Patreon website (mobile or desktop). Join our Patreon Community (here) OR become a Substack Paid Member (here)! Highlights Podcast reflections from 2025 — including top episodes based on download stats. A brief overview of Sarah's and Chrissie's 2025 year in reading. Their favorite books of the year: overall and by genre, including the SBL Member Community's picks. 2025 Genre Awards [12:39] Sarah The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [12:45]  The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [16:32]  The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [20:13]  One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org   [23:48]  The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [28:47]  August Lane by Regina Black (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [36:03]  The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [41:54]  Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:36] This American Woman by Zarna Garg (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [50:00] Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [52:59] The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [54:44]  Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [56:29] Next of Kin by Gabrielle Hamilton (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org   [1:00:10]  The Elements by John Boyne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [1:03:10] Chrissie Fox by Joyce Carol Oates (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [13:42]  Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:36]  Marble Hall Murders (Susan Ryeland, 3) by Anthony Horowitz (2025) | Amazon| Bookshop.org  [21:39]  The Pretender by Jo Harkin (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [25:51]  What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [30:28]  To Clutch a Razor (Curse Bearer, 2) by Veronica Roth (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:39]  The Love Haters by Katherine Center (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [37:03]  These Heathens by Mia McKenzie (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [43:31]  The Zorg by Siddarth Kara (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [47:11]  Misbehaving at the Crossroads by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [51:09] A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:38]  Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[55:11] Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [57:16]  Future Boy by Michael J. Fox (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [1:01:23]  Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [1:06:07]  SBL Member Community The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [15:43] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [19:02] Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [22:52]  Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [27:21] The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:28]  The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:23]  One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:39] Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [40:57] Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:15] Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:17] Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:19] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:22] Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:24] So Far Gone by Jess Walter (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:27] This American Woman by Zarna Garg (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:28] Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:20] Ordinary Time by Annie Jones (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [52:32] Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [54:31]  Among Friends by Hal Ebbott (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [59:25] Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [1:02:33] Other Books Mentioned Leaving by Roxana Robinson (2024) [13:51]  Heart the Lover by Lily King (2025) [15:35]  Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) [15:58]  Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) [16:09]  The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) [16:11] Dream State by Eric Puchner (2025) [16:13] Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne (2023) [17:45]  Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025) [18:46]  Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025) [18:56]  The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham (2025) [19:18] Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan (2025) [19:23] Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2023) [21:28]  The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (2025) [23:03] The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (2025) [23:07]   Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (2025) [23:13] The Boomerang by Robert Bailey (2025) [23:15]   We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter (2017) [24:09]  Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin (2022) [26:03] What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown (2025) [26:55] Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025) [27:06]   The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (2025) [27:12] Isola by Allegra Goodman (2025) [28:13]  Merge by Grace Walker (2025) [31:35] The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve (2025) [31:43]  Sunrise on the Reaping by Susanna Collins (2025) [31:48] Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (2025) [31:01] The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker (2025) [32:05] When Among Crows by Veronica Roth (2024) [33:05]  Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (2025) [34:23] Babel by R. F. Kuang (2022) [34:36] Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (2023) [34:37] A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (2025) [34:49] The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (2024) [34:54] Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) [34:58] The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (2025) [35:05] Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (2025) [35:31] The Art of Scandal by Regina Black (2023) [36:49] The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) [38:54]  The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (2025) [40:30] Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (2025) [40:37] We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad (2025) [40:42] The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (2025) [41:19] Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (2025) [41:30] When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (2025) [44:56] The Wager by David Grann (2023) [47:34]  Replaceable You by Mary Roach (2025) [49:04] The Gales of November by John U. Bacon (2025) [49:11] Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) [51:58] All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert (2025) [52:08] Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) [52:24] Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (2025) [52:28] One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (2025) [52:49] The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024) [53:22] Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) [54:21] Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo (2025) [54:27] Woodworking by Emily St. James (2025) [56:16] Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2025) [58:57] The Elements by John Boyne (2025) [59:15]   Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (2025) [59:49] My Friends by Fredrik Backman (2025) [59:51] The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (2017) [1:05:51] James by Percival Everett (2024) [1:08:07]  Top Podcast Episodes Ep. 199: Best Books of 2025 (So Far) with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) and Susie (@NovelVisits) Ep. 184: Best Books of 2024 Genre Awards with Susie (@NovelVisits) Ep. 185: Winter 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) Ep. 205: Fall 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) Ep. 192: Spring 2025 Book Preview with Catherine (@GilmoreGuide) Ep. 198: Best of Thrillers with Anderson McKean of Page & Palette (@PagePalette) Ep. 188: Best of Fantasy with Chrissie (@ChrissieWhitley) Ep. 193: Clare Leslie Hall (author of Broken Country) Ep. 187: State of the Industry in 2024 with Kathleen Schmidt (@KathMSchmidt), author of the Publishing Confidential Substack Ep. 208: Best of Narrative Nonfiction with Elizabeth Barnhill of Fabled Bookshop (@FabledBookshop)

Do You Feel Like an Employee of Your Former Self? Renowned novelist Ian McEwan makes a funny observation about book tours that’s applicable to many familiar situations. Resources & links related to this episode: Get in touch: podcast@gretchenrubin.com Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app. Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David talks to novelist Ian McEwan, who was our first ever guest on PPF, about how the future will view our present once the disasters we are brewing come to pass. How might humanity scrape through the rest of the century? Will future generations see us as intellectually vibrant or essentially trivial? If we turn out to be unknowable to those who follow us, does that mean we are unknowable to ourselves? A wide-ranging conversation about how past, present and future co-exist in time. Ian McEwan's latest novel is What We Can Know https://bit.ly/4ogYN5u If you are looking for Christmas presents we have 6- and 12-month gift subscriptions to PPF+ giving access to all our bonus episodes, ad-free listening and automatic sign-up to our fortnightly newsletter – which can be delivered to the recipient of your choice on Christmas Day! https://ppf.supportingcast.fm/gifts Plus we have gorgeous PPF canvas tote bags and bone china PPF mugs, all available now https://www.ppfideas.com/merch Next time in Politics on Trial: Lady Chatterley's Lover  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Award-winning narrator Shaun Taylor-Corbett joins host Jo Reed to tell listeners about narrating Jon Hickey's debut audiobook, BIG CHIEF, one of our picks for Best Fiction of 2025. It's a story about a political fixer, Mitch Caddo, who must navigate both political and personal dramas, while confronting his identity as a mixed-race Anishinaabe man. Taylor-Corbett shares how he found Caddo's voice in this audiobook, which is a unique look into tribal politics, identity, and how power is both given and taken. Read AudioFile's review of the audiobook: Published by Simon & Schuster Audio AudioFile's 2025 Best Fiction Audiobooks are: AMITY by Nathan Harris, read by André Santana, Angel Pean THE ANTIDOTE by Karen Russell, read by Elena Rey, Sophie Amoss, Mark Bramhall, Shayna Small, Jon Orsini, Natasha Soudek, Karen Russell, James Riding BIG CHIEF by Jon Hickey, Shaun Taylor-Corbett BUCKEYE by Patrick Ryan, read by Michael Crouch JUNIE by Erin Crosby Eckstine, read by Angel Pean WHAT WE CAN KNOW by Ian McEwan, read by David Rintoul, Rachel Bavidge Explore the full list of 2025 Best Audiobooks on our website:   Support for our podcast comes from Dreamscape, an award-winning audiobook publisher with a catalog that includes authors L.J. Shen, Freida McFadden, and Katee Robert. Discover your next great listen at dreamscapepublishing.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his latest novel, Ian McEwan imagines a future world after a century's worth of disasters. The good news in “What We Can Know” is that humanity still exists, which McEwan calls “nuanced optimism.” He and David Remnick discuss the tradition of the big-themed social novel, which has gone out of literary fashion—“rather too many novels,” McEwan theorizes, hide “their poor prose behind a character.” But is the realist novel, Remnick wonders, “up to the job” of describing today's digital life? It remains “our best instrument of understanding who we are, of representing the flow of thought and feeling, and of representing the fine print of what happens between individuals,” McEwan responds. “We have not yet found a compelling replacement.” And yet he does not care to moralize: “the pursuit has also got to be of pleasure.” McEwan spoke with David Remnick at a public event organized by the 92nd Street Y in New York.  New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Join host David Remnick as he discusses the latest in politics, news, and current events in conversation with political leaders, newsmakers, innovators, New Yorker staff writers, authors, actors, and musicians.

Ian McEwan hat es wieder geschafft. Mit "Was wir wissen können" legt der britische Autor erneut Weltliteratur vor. Eine Leseempfehlung von WDR 2 Literaturkritiker Denis Scheck. Von Denis Scheck.

The Late Show Book Club chats with Ian McEwan, acclaimed author of "Atonement" and the new novel "What We Can Know," our October book club pick, about the real poem that inspired this story, whether writing has become easier for him after 19 novels, and his favorite advice for aspiring writers. Follow @ColbertLateShow on Instagram for more Late Show Book Club updates! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Proving Ground by Michael Connellym – Fictional What Can We Know by Ian McEwan – Fictional How To Build A House In The Mountains by Roger Lucey - Non-fitional Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this #amwriting podcast episode, Jennie Nash talks about what it means to “play big” on the page. Using Ian McEwan's choice to write his latest novel without research as an example, she shows how true impact comes when a writer fully owns their story and brings it to life with depth and intention. She encourages listeners to think about their own top five most powerful reads, notice what made those books unforgettable, and aim to create that same sense of bigness in their own writingTranscript Below!#AmWriting: A Groupstack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.SPONSORSHIP MESSAGEHey, it's Jess Lahey. If you've been listening to the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast for any length of time, you know that yes, I am a writer—but my true love, my deepest love, is combining writing with speaking. I get to go into schools, community organizations, nonprofits, and businesses, and do everything from lunch-and-learns to community reads to just teaching about the topics that I'm an expert in—from the topics in The Gift of Failure: engagement, learning, learning in the brain, cognitive development, getting kids motivated—and, yes, the topic of overparenting and what that does to kids' learning. Two topics around The Addiction Inoculation are substance use prevention in kids, and—what I've been doing lately that's the most fun for me, frankly—is combining the two. It makes the topic of substance use prevention more approachable, less scary, when we're talking about it in the context of learning, motivation, self-efficacy, competence, and—yes—cognitive development. So if you have any interest in bringing me into your school, your nonprofit, your business—I would love to come. You can go to JessicaLahey.com. Look under the menu option “Speaking,” and go down to “Speaking Inquiry.” There's also a lot of information on my website about what I do—there are videos there about how I do it. Please feel free to get in touch, and I hope I get to come to your community. If you put in the speaking inquiry that you are a Hashtag AmWriting listener, we can talk about a discount—so that can be one of the bonuses for being a loyal and long-term listener to the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast.Hope to hear from you.EPISODE TRANSCRIPTHi, I'm Jennie Nash, and you're listening to the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast. This is a Write Big session, where I'm bringing you short episodes about the mindset shifts that help you stop playing small and write like it matters.Today we're talking about how writing big shows up on the page—how you know when somebody else has done it, when a writer has really wrestled with their material, when they've really thought about what matters about it and why it matters, and how they want their readers to feel. They've done all the work of making the choices that deliver an experience to their reader. You can feel it—and you want it.Just before Ian McEwan's new novel came out—which is called What We Can Know—I read an interview with him in The Wall Street Journal, and the interviewer, whose name is Jon Mooallem, asked McEwan this: “You seem to savor research for your books. To write about a brain surgeon, in Saturday, you observed brain surgeries. Here you're writing about a future that's so plausible-seeming and specific but diverges dramatically from all the well-worn dystopian tropes. How do you go about researching the future?” And McEwan answers, “I didn't do any research for this novel.” The interviewer says, “Amazing—none?” And McEwan says, “I could have written it from a prison cell. I mean, there are factoids I looked up on the internet in 30 seconds, but as I approach 80, I'd rather revel in taking a walk through my own mind.”I don't normally read dystopian fiction, but when I heard that answer, I went and pre-ordered the book. I've read some of McEwan's other books and have adored them—especially Atonement. So he's on my radar as a writer that I like to read, and a writer that is worth my time. But I pass up a lot of books by writers whose previous work I've liked, so it's not a foregone conclusion that I would have read this one. But that idea—that he did no research for a sci-fi dystopian novel—and those words about how “I'd rather revel in taking a walk through my own mind”—that tells me that this is a book in which he's playing big, and that's a book that I want to read.It's not that there's anything wrong with research, obviously. People who are writing nonfiction are going to need to do a lot of research, and people writing historical fiction or maybe memoir, and people writing sci-fi or fantasy who are making up worlds that have new technologies or thinking about future systems of government or transportation or food delivery or any of that, are going to need to do research. It's not that I'm knocking that. What I heard, though, was this idea of a writer who was just owning this story—who had it alive in their head and was bringing it to life on the page. And that's what I always am looking for, and I suspect it's what you're looking for, too.If I were to ask you to reel off your all-time top favorite five books, I bet you would be able to. These books live in our minds because of the experience that they delivered to us. And sometimes it's because they came at the exact right moment in our lives. A lot of people will reference a book like Charlotte's Web, which maybe was one of the first books that they ever read—or one of the first times they understood what death is about. Or people will talk about Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, because they felt, for the first time, that this author was really speaking to them and got into their heads and their hearts. So there's a huge part of this about where we are in our lives when we encounter a particular book and why it might hit us in that particular way. But if you really think about that list of five books, you're going to understand that there's something about those books where the author was playing big. They own their story in a very specific way.One of the books that would be on my top-five list would have to be the book Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. This is a memoir that I read when I was a teenager. I think I pulled it off of the shelf of my dad's study. It's a story of this guy who spends a season in the wilderness. He is a ranger at Arches National Park, which is one of those beautiful parks out in the middle of the desert. It's a red-rock landscape, and there are arches out there made out of that rock. It's a very harsh environment, and he is out there greeting the people who dared to come visit this space. And the reason that book is on my list is that I read it more than forty-five years ago, and I can still remember exactly what it felt like to open that book and start reading. Edward Abbey writes in a very specific and unique and intense voice, and he has very big and controversial thoughts about comfort and wilderness and what people seek when they go out there. But for me, the reason that book stays on my top all-time list is because that was the book that helped me finally understand my father. And my father was a professor of environmental studies. He spent a lot of time out in the wilderness, in places that were harsh and uncomfortable, and he had a lot of very strong opinions, like Abbey. And he was a hard man to understand because of some of these things. And as a kid growing up and, you know, becoming a teenager, I didn't understand him, and it was a struggle to understand him. And when I read this book, it was as if somebody handed me a whole new understanding. And I just thought, Oh, this is it. I get it. I get him now. And I can call up that feeling all these years later—of how amazing it was to have somebody see me and see my dad in a way that I hadn't been able to see. So when I think about that experience, and I think about what it was like to be immersed in that book…To me, that is a memory of somebody who played big. I think it was one of the first times I encountered—certainly in an adult book—somebody who was writing big. That book just had a bigness about it, a sense that the author was holding nothing back.And what I mean about holding nothing back—I don't mean that all good writing is just dumping your most private or vulnerable thoughts on the page, or forcing that kind of revelatory work on somebody. That's not what I mean. I mean that there's a sense of depth to it, a feeling of authority—of that author having come as close as you can get to bringing their vision to life. That's what makes a reading experience unforgettable. And it's worth noting here that we live in the time of AI, and AI can do a lot for a story. It can analyze your structure. It can flag plot holes. It can suggest fixes. There's a whole lot that you can use it for if you so choose. People can decide whether they want to use these tools in their work or not.But the thing is that, no matter if you're using those tools, AI can never touch this thing that we're talking about. It can never do the work of the heart—of deciding why a story matters, or why a book matters, or why you're willing to risk writing it or going all in on it. It can never connect with the reader who's going to encounter that work on the other side, because it's a machine.And this human work of connecting is what playing big is really about.Playing small is skating across the surface of an idea. It's polishing words while avoiding the deep meaning. It's leaning on formulas or tropes or trends or tools to do the heavy lifting of intention. The result may be polished, it may be clean, it may be publishable—it may even do well in the marketplace—but it lacks that sense of aliveness that only you can bring, that sense that this work mattered to the writer. So what I'd like you to do today is think about the top five books that you have read in your life and that you remember and that hit you with a strong power. And it might be fun to think about what you felt when you read them and why they impacted you in that way. But what I really want you to do is to pin down the reason why that book has a sense of bigness to it. What did the writer do to make you feel what you felt? And I don't mean tactically—we're looking for something ineffable here, some sense about why that writer was playing big. And then you might write down the way you want your reader to feel when they finish your book, and ask yourself: what do I need to put on the page to make that happen?Until next time—stop playing small and write like it matters.NarratorThe Hashtag AmWriting Podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work.#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

A century from now, how will historians look back on your life? In his latest novel, What We Can Know, Ian McEwan imagines the future in 100 years. In a world altered by climate change and nuclear war, human beings are looking back at our current age with a mix of nostalgia, envy and contempt … which is why a scholar becomes fixated on finding a lost poem from 2014. You might know Ian from his breakout hit Atonement, which was made into an Oscar-winning film. This week, he joins Mattea Roach to talk about crafting his own dystopia, his concerns about AI and why we just might be living in a golden age.Liked this conversation? Keep listening:Jeff VanderMeer: How his blockbuster Southern Reach series reflects our own fight against climate change What if your dreams could land you in jail?

The Booker prize-winning author of Atonement and Saturday joins us for the launch of his audacious new novel — a genre-bending, time-traveling tour de force. For decades, Ian McEwan's novels have probed the depths of the human heart, creating unforgettable and utterly relatable characters of extraordinary moral complexity, caught in the crosscurrents of memory, history, and desire. His new novel, What We Can Know, begins at a dinner party in 2014 with the recitation of a love poem among friends and follows to 2119, in the wake of a catastrophic nuclear accident, as a lonely scholar and researcher chases the ghost of that poem. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the elusive poem's discovery, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a brutal crime that destroy his assumptions about the world he thought he knew. It is at once a love story and a literary detective story, reclaiming the present from our sense of looming catastrophe, imagining a future world where all is not quite lost. In a special reading and conversation with The New Yorker's editor David Remnick, hear McEwan discuss the genesis of the new novel, his creation of a new kind of speculative literary fiction, why we will never stop longing for the literature of the past even as we reach inexorably toward the future, and much more. The conversation will air on The New Yorker Radio Hour.

Dame Rose Tremain is one of Britain's most prolific and popular writers, having written 17 novels and five collections of short stories over the last 50 years. She was one of only six women on Granta magazine's inaugural 1982 list of the best young British novelists, alongside Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and others. Her fifth novel Restoration was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1989, she won the Whitbread Prize for Music And Silence in 1999, and was awarded the 2008 Orange Prize - the precursor to the Women's Prize for Fiction - for her novel The Road Home. Having already been made a CBE in 2007, she became Dame Rose Tremain in 2020 for services to writing. Her most recent work is a short story called The Toy Car.Rose Tremain tells John Wilson how her father, a largely unsuccessful playwright called Keith Thomson, inspired her childhood interest in storytelling, although he never encouraged her to write. She recalls how she first started writing fiction to help her cope with loneliness in a household where there was little parental affection. Rose recalls how it was a teacher at her boarding school who first recognised her ability and encouraged her to apply for an Oxbridge university place, only to be dissuaded by her mother, who sent her to a finishing school in France instead. She credits the novelist Angus Wilson, one of her English Literature tutors at the University Of East Anglia, for giving her the confidence to write her first novel. She also chooses The Diary Of Samuel Pepys as a major inspiration on her 1989 Booker-shortlisted novel Restoration, which was later turned into a Hollywood film starring Robert Downey Jnr. and Meg Ryan.Producer: Edwina Pitman

If autumn weather has you wanting to tuck into an engrossing novel, look no further: Hosts Sarah Bowen Shea and Ellison “The Book Bully” Weist serve up five new novels, including a semi-dystopian novel from the genius behind Atonement. The duo dives into: -What We Can Know: Ian McEwan-Buckeye: Patrick Ryan-Mercy: Joan Silber-The Elements: John Boyne-A Slowly Dying Cause: Elizabeth George Check out Fall into Fitness: Harvest Your Strength.    When you shop our sponsors, you help AMR.We appreciate your—and their—support! Get 20% off, plus free shipping, on allIQBAR products by texting AMR to 64-000 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Esta semana, na estante, um novo livro do poeta António Manuel Pires Cabral: “A Partilha do Lume”; o ensaio “O Canto das Sirenes”, de Chris Hayes; a novela “O Lavagante”, de José Cardoso Pires, agora adaptada ao cinema; e o novo romance de Ian McEwan: “O Que Podemos Saber”.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

International bestselling author, Ian McEwan, joins Simon and Matt for a little bit of Q&A. He talks about his favorite places to write, being interrupted during a a writing flow and gives us some brilliant book recommendations too. Ian also shares who he would invite to his fantasy dinner party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian McEwan is a Booker Prize winning author of nineteen novels, including Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act, and On Chesil Beach. Ian sits down with Jenna Bush Hager to talk about the inspiration for his latest novel, What We Can Know. Ian reflects on a lifetime of storytelling, from his early love of reading to his writing routine and how it feels to be an author in the age of AI. They also talk about the global impact of his books, the timeless power of literature to ask big questions about who we are and what we value, and what topics he's excited to explore in his next novel.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Imagine the impact of climate change is irreversible, and decades of flooding, famine, pandemics and war have upended life on earth. That world is explored in Ian McEwan's new novel, “What We Can Know.” Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown sat down with the Booker Prize-winning novelist for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

At 77, the Booker Prize-winning British novelist Ian McEwan shows no signs of slowing down. His new novel, What We Can Know, is set in Great Britain in the 22nd century – a country now partly underwater as a result of global warming. In today's episode, McEwan speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the book's plot – it tells of a search for a lost poem that was written in our own times – and notes that he is less interested in the future of science than that of the humanities, love and daily life.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ian McEwan is best known for his books On Chesil Beach and Atonement. Beth Golay spoke with McEwan about his 19th novel, What We Can Know.

Elisabeth Easther reviews What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, published by Penguin Random House.

International bestselling author, Ian McEwan, joins Simon and Matt for a chat about his new novel 'What We Can Know'. Optimistic manifesto? Or a cautious tale? In the first half of the book, we learn about a lost poem - which is at the heart of the novel - as this is ultimately a book about a quest. As well as poetry, they talk about renewable energies being on the rise and the positive conversations around climate change. 'you only have to stop doing bad things to nature, for it to push back quickly' Here's more on the book: 2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found.2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.Tom Metcalfe, a scholar at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain's remaining archipelagos, pores over the archives of the early twenty-first century, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith.When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the great lost poem, revelations of entangled love and a brutal crime emerge, destroying his assumptions about a story he thought he knew intimately. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's autumn and we're getting cosy. Hannah's recco of the week is Whistle by Linwood Barclay... think Stephen King vibes. Also mentioned: Atonement and Lessons by Ian McEwan.  We've also both seen Weapons - got thoughts? More excitingly we get into Stool sample chat - what is the etiquette?? Does it need a gingham sleeve? The women are playing Rugby World Cup - baffling but proud. Are you wearing Mary Janes or a demure ballet pump?  Tarot we draw the hanged man (is that good??) and get a fresh perspective.  Enough nonsense. Let's get spooky.  Story 1 Big S has a mental story called CINNAMON. It's a cosy one. Listen to this ideally with a pumpkin spiced latte. And poss a valium.  Story 2 Hannah has a story about Jenna's iPhone. Careful of facial recognition.  Story 3 Big S narrates a story called My husband was not my husband that day... this is seriously creepy. Story 4  Hannah takes us to Tokyo to hear about the shadows in the subway of Shin-Koiwa... CREEP OF THE WEEK (C.O.W! C.O.W!) - this is from Jen Etherington, thank yew hun!!!!! This has PHOTO EVIDENCE of the Wedding Woods... We end with Telekenesis... Will the coke move? We love you Huns In The Wild xxxx ENJOY  JOIN OUR PATREON! EXTRA bonus episodes AND a monthly ghost hunt for just £4.50!  Or £6 for AD-FREE EPS and weekly AGONY HUNS! We'll solve your problems huns!  Sign up here: www.patreon.com/GhostHuns Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of nineteen novels and two short story collections.  His novels include Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach, and he is the recipient of many awards including the Booker Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award. In this episode, McEwan sits down with author and journalist Alex Preston to discuss the enduring power of the novel, the challenges of writing climate fiction and his new book What We Can Know. What We Can Know is a work of speculative fiction set in 2119. It is a book about poetry, archives, rising sea levels and the plight of humanity in the vast natural world, and is available now online or in bookstores near you. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events  ...  Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In our weekly review show, Kirsty Wark is joined by writer and critic Hannah McGill and writer and journalist Alan Taylor to discuss What Can We Know, the latest novel from Booker Prize winning writer Ian McEwan, an epic story set in a largely underwater Britain a hundred years in the future which touches on themes including climate change and great poetry. They also give their verdicts on Frances Poet's Small Acts of Love, a musical theatre production inspired by relationships formed across the Atlantic between victims of the Lockerbie disaster in December 1988. The production - a collaboration between the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and the National Theatre of Scotland, and with songs by Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross, is the opening production in the newly refurbished 'Citz', a theatre which has played an important role in the city and also in the careers of the likes of Rupert Everett, Glenda Jackson and Miriam Margolyes, and which has just reopened after a major revamp. They also review The Girlfriend, a new psychological thriller from Amazon Prime, which stars Robin Wright as a possessive mother whose life begins to unravel when her son brings home a new partner she suspects is not all she seems. We also bring you the latest in our series of interviews with authors shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, Colwill Brown. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Calling all Davids! This one's for you. Jane M and Fi dive into everything from beard-growing and cycling to hormones and being triggered in East London. Later, Roya Nikkhah, royal editor of The Sunday Times, speaks with best-selling author Ian McEwan about his new novel 'What We Can Know', set a hundred years in the future in a UK partially submerged by rising seas. We've announced our next book club pick! 'Just Kids' is by Patti Smith. You can listen to the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qIjhtS9sprg864IXC96he?si=uOzz4UYZRc2nFOP8FV_1jg&pi=BGoacntaS_uki.If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: janeandfi@times.radio.Follow us on Instagram! @janeandfi.Podcast Producer: Eve SalusburyExecutive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian McEwan's masterful new novel is a piece of speculative fiction that shows a radically altered UK on the other side of climate catastrophe and global warfare. But it centres on two academics reaching back into the past to uncover the secrets behind a poem performed only once and lost to history. We spoke with him about the novel's big themes, its human focus and how to bring past and future together in the present moment.

Sir Ian McEwan is one of Britain's most acclaimed novelists, a Booker prize winner with a career spanning five decades with work that often explores morality, memory, and the intersections of private lives with public events. Sir Ian has long been associated with contemporaries like Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, and Salman Rushdie, who together reshaped the British novel from the 1980s onward. In this episode of Ways to Change the World, he spoke to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the great issues facing the world from artificial intelligence to the rise of authoritarianism - as well as his latest novel What We Can Know.

Gunmen have killed at least six people in Jerusalem, and seriously injured several others. Police said both attackers were shot dead after opening fire at a bus near a busy road junction.Also in the programme: A rare report from inside Cambodia, after their recent conflict with Thailand; and the Booker-prize-winning author, Ian McEwan, on his new novel, which he calls science fiction without the science. (Photo credit: Reuters)

Ian McEwan's latest novel is set in a post-climate change future where survivors are haunted by the richness of a lost world.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories and two poems the celebrate the power and mystery of reading and writing.  Billy Collins contributes magical verse from two perspectives in “Books” read by Kirsten Vangsness, and “Dear Reader,” performed by Dion Graham.   N.K. Jemisin entices us with a tricky narrative that contemplates the cost of literary celebrity. It's read by Yetide Badaki.And at least one character in Ian McEwan's “My Purple Scented Novel” wants celebrity at all costs.  It's read by Tony Hale. 

In Episode 193, author Clare Leslie Hall talks with Sarah about her US debut, Broken Country — a breakout hit and a Reese's Book Club pick. A genre mash-up that is part love story and part murder trial, Clare talks about marketing Broken Country, how this came to be her first U.S. release, and the ways the novel evolved over time. Plus, Clare shares her book recommendations. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Highlights Books by Clare Leslie Hall: Broken Country, Days You Were Mine (previously published as Mine), and Pictures of Him (previously published as Him). Clare gives a brief, spoiler-free overview of Broken Country.  Clare's inspiration for Broken Country. How the themes of love, guilt, and connection play roles in the novel. The ways Broken Country developed and changed over the course of her writing process. How Clare decided that this was no longer a contemporary novel and needed to be set in the 1950s and 1960s. The aspect of the book of which she's most proud. How Broken Country came to be her first book released in the U.S. What the marketing looked like for Broken Country compared to her first two novels. Anything Clare would change about Broken Country down the line should she have the opportunity (since she was able to change the ending of her second book for the U.S. release). A bit about what Clare has planned for her next book. Clare's Book Recommendations [35:30] Two OLD Books She Loves Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (1987) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:43] All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (1992) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:26] Other Books Mentioned: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1985) [38:42]   Two NEW Books She Loves Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (February 18, 2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[40:12] Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell (July 30, 2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[41:33] Other Books Mentioned: The Wedding People by Alison Espach (July 30, 2024) [43:48]  The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller (2021) [44:04]  One Book She DIDN'T Love Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:22] One NEW RELEASE She's Excited About What the Deep Water Knows by Miranda Cowley Heller (July 1, 2025) | Amazon| Bookshop.org [48:40] Last 5-Star Book Clare Read Leaving by Roxana Robinson (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [51:19] Books From the Discussion Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001) [14:38] The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley (1953) [14:42] To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) [16:22] Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (2018) [54:02]  About Clare Leslie Hall  Instagram | X Clare Leslie Hall is a novelist and journalist who lives in the wilds of Dorset, England, with her family. She's the author of Broken Country, Pictures of Him, and Days You Were Mine.