Susan Johnson

Put it on ice, Jane Austen.

So, Cassie, you and I have only read Kudos, this latest book, which is the one we're going to focus on today.

But luckily, we have two novelists, two commentators with us who've read all three and possibly even more of her work.

Great to have you along.

Hi, Susan.

Now, you were both very keen to talk about this novel, Kudos.

Why, Mireille?

So, Mireille, just to make this a bit clearer for people who don't know anything about her work, what's going on in this trilogy of novels?

And we're going to be concentrating on Kudos, the last one.

But give us a big picture sense of this series.

How do they work?

A drug is an interesting way of putting it, Cassie, because what it did was it then changed everything else I've read since.

Because for me, it was a novel all about storytelling.

And so when the man with the long legs starts to tell his story, she says, he recounted all this with an abashed and easy confidentiality that made it clear he spoke for the purpose of entertainment rather than to arouse consternation.

Everybody tells their stories in this book for different purposes and in different styles.

And so for me, I kept on everything else I read.

Every other story I heard was about the nature of storytelling and the nature of time.

But I guess it depends also what you bring to it as a reader.

So, Susan, was it storytelling and time for you or was it something else?

But I'm curious, Susan, that you said it's full of emotion because part of what I came to enjoy about it was how much was a sort of cool exploration of ideas.