Bookclub
Episodes
Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The award-winning actress Emma Thompson takes questions on Sense and Sensibility in this special episode of Bookclub to mark the 250th anniversary of ...
Hallie Rubenhold
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Presented by James Naughtie, the writer and historian Hallie Rubenhold takes questions from a Bookclub audience on her prize-winning book The Five: Th...
John Niven
05 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Led by presenter, James Naughtie, the writer John Niven speaks to Radio 4's Bookclub programme about his 2008 novel, Kill Your Friends, which is a dar...
Paula Hawkins
07 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Presented by James Naughtie, Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the writer Paula Hawkins about her debut thriller The Girl On The Train. The book was publi...
Kit de Waal
03 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Presented by James Naughtie, BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the award-winning writer Kit de Waal about her heart-rending debut novel, My Name Is Le...
Tom Holland
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Presented by James Naughtie, Bookclub speaks to the award-winning writer, historian, and podcaster, Tom Holland, about his book Rubicon, which looks a...
Joanne Harris: Chocolat
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Led by presenter James Naughtie, the writer Joanne Harris takes questions from a BBC Bookclub audience on her best-selling novel, Chocolat. Published ...
Natalie Haynes
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Led by presenter James Naughtie, a BBC Bookclub audience in Glasgow speaks to the author Natalie Haynes about her 2019 novel - A Thousand Ships - whic...
Michel Faber
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, presented by James Naughtie, speaks to the writer Michel Faber about his debut novel, Under the Skin. Published in ...
Christopher Brookmyre
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month, Bookclub, presented by James Naughtie, speaks to the author Christopher Brookmyre, as he takes questions from a live BBC audience about hi...
Sara Collins
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month, BBC Bookclub, presented by James Naughtie, speaks to the writer Sara Collins, as she takes questions from a live audience about her award-...
Richard Osman
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Presented by James Naughtie, BBC Bookclub speaks to the writer Richard Osman about his crime-fiction novel The Thursday Murder Club, which sold millio...
Alan Warner: Morvern Callar
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning writer Alan Warner takes questions from Radio 4's Bookclub audience about his first-person, pacey novel, Morvern Callar, which was writt...
Carys Davies: The Mission House
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The writer Carys Davies talks to readers about her beautifully-crafted novel, The Mission House, which follows the character of Hilary Byrd, a British...
Susanna Clarke: Piranesi
06 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Susanna Clarke won the Women's Prize for Fiction with her novel Piranesi. She joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to answer their questions ab...
Ken Follett: A Column of Fire
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bestselling novelist Ken Follett joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss his historical novel A Column of Fire, the third in his hugely successful...
Ayobami Adebayo
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ayobami Adebayo talks to James Naughtie and readers about her novel, Stay With Me, a moving story of loss and motherhood. Set against the backdrop of ...
Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Marlon James answers readers' questions about his award-winning novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings. The novel, which is narrated by multiple c...
Lucy Caldwell: These Days
02 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrated novelist and short story writer Lucy Caldwell joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss These Days. Set in 1941, it focusses on the liv...
Nicholas Shakespeare: Six Minutes in May
05 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and readers quiz Nicholas Shakespeare about his book, Six Minutes In May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister. It chronic...
Clare Chambers: Small Pleasures
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Clare Chambers talks to James Naughtie and readers about her bestselling novel, Small Pleasures. Set in the London suburbs in the 1950s, it tells the...
Ann Cleeves: Hidden Depths
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bookclub travels to Northumberland to meet best-selling crime writer Ann Cleeves. She joins James Naughtie and listeners to discuss her novel, Hidden...
Graeme Macrae Burnet: His Bloody Project
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Graeme Macrae Burnet joins James Naughtie and readers to reveal the secrets behind his award-winning historical novel, His Bloody Project. Set in th...
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, with Elly Griffiths
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Marking 200 years since the birth of Wilkie Collins, crime writer, and Collins admirer, Elly Griffiths discusses one of his best known works -The Moo...
Donal Ryan: The Spinning Heart
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Donal Ryan discusses his book The Spinning Heart with a group of readers, It's a powerful, moving novel told through twenty one individual voices. Se...
Katherine Heiny: Standard Deviation
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Katherine Heiny answers readers questions about Standard Deviation, her hilarious novel about marriage, parenting and the road not travelled. Audra i...
Bernardine Evaristo: Mr Loverman
01 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bernardine Evaristo joins James Naughtie and readers to discuss Mr Loverman, her 2013 novel about Barrington Walker, a married man with a secret life....
Denise Mina: The Long Drop
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie is joined by Denise Mina to talk about her book The Long Drop. This intriguing true-crime story is set in 1950s Glasgow when notorio...
Mick Herron: Slow Horses
06 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mick Herron answers readers' questions about his novel, Slow Horses, the first in his hugely popular Slough House series. In it we meet the 'Slow Hor...
Julian Barnes: Arthur and George
02 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To mark our 25th anniversary, Julian Barnes returns to Bookclub. He’s answering readers' questions about his Booker-shortlisted novel Arthur and...
Mary Lawson: Crow Lake
04 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Lawson joins James Naughtie and a group of readers to answer questions about her novel, Crow Lake. An international bestseller, it tells the sto...
Sarah Winman: Tin Man
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and readers are joined by novelist Sarah Winman, answering questions about her novel Tin Man. It's a moving and intimate portrait of t...
Tan Twan Eng: The Garden of Evening Mists
02 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tan Twan Eng talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about The Garden of Evening Mists. A lyrical novel set largely in 1950s Malay (now Malay...
Nadifa Mohamed: The Fortune Men
05 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nadifa Mohamed joins James Naughtie and readers to talk about her award-winning novel The Fortune Men. Set in Cardiff in the 1950s, the novel is bas...
Cal Flyn: Islands of Abandonment
05 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Cal Flyn about her acclaimed book, Islands of Abandonment, an exploration of places which have been recl...
Ross King: Brunelleschi's Dome
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Ross King answers listener questions about his book Brunelleschi's Dome. An incredible story of one man's determination to build an apparent...
AJ Pearce: Dear Mrs Bird
04 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie is joined by writer A J Pearce and a group of listeners, as she answers their questions about her bestselling novel Dear Mrs Bird. Set...
Juan Gabriel Vasquez: The Sound of Things Falling
06 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Juan Gabriel Vasquez answers audience questions about The Sound of Things Falling. Set in Colombia, the novel examines the personal and private impact...
Curtis Sittenfeld: American Wife
02 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Curtis Sittenfeld answers listener questions about American Wife, a novel which follows Alice Lindgren's path from school librarian to First Lady, and...
Hilary Mantel - Bring Up the Bodies
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In a special programme first broadcast in 2013, Hilary Mantel discusses Bring Up the Bodies, her second Man Booker Prize-winning novel with James Naug...
Kathleen Jamie: Selected Poems
04 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bookclub travels to Edinburgh where Scotland's Makar Kathleen Jamie answers readers questions about her Selected Poems, and her writing life.Many poem...
Kevin Barry
07 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, James Naughtie is joined by an in-person audience who are putting their questions to Kevin Bar...
John Preston: The Dig
03 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
John Preston talks to a group of readers about his novel The Dig, a fictional take on the excavations at Sutton Hoo. Set in the summer of 1939, with w...
Diana Evans
05 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Diana Evans answers listener questions about Ordinary People, her page-turner of a novel about contemporary black middle class experience in the Londo...
Nick Harkaway
01 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Harkaway answers listener questions about his extraordinary novel Angelmaker. A blend of fantasy, thriller and adventure the novel tells the sto...
Karen Joy Fowler
03 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Novelist Karen Joy Fowler joins James Naughtie to answer listener questions about her Booker shortlisted novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves,...
Sarah Moss
06 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Moss joins James Naughtie to answer listener questions about her novel The Tidal Zone - a story of healthcare, parenting, and the echoes of the...
Stacey Halls
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Stacey Halls about her novel The Foundling, set in 18th century London. It's the story of Bess, who give...
Abir Mukherjee
02 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and Bookclub readers talk to Abir Mukherjee about A Rising Man, the first in his Wyndham and Bannerjee detective series, set in Calcutt...
Rachel Joyce: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
05 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie is joined by bestselling writer Rachel Joyce who is answering listener questions about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. This mov...
Maja Lunde - The History of Bees
07 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The History of Bees by Maja Lunde is set in three different times and in three different countries - nineteenth century England, present day Ohio and...
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
03 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anthony Doerr talks to James Naughtie and a group of readers about his novel All the Light We Cannot See, which won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fictio...
Lissa Evans - Old Baggage
05 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lissa Evans talks to James Naughtie and a group of her readers about her novel Old Baggage.Set in 1928, it tells the story of Matilda Simpkin, who was...
Tahmima Anam - A Golden Age
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam is set fifty years ago, during the Bangladesh War of Independence. The conflict is seen through the eyes of Rehana, a f...
Francis Spufford - Golden Hill
04 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Francis Spufford’s novel Golden Hill won the Costa Book Award, the Ondaatje Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize and was shortlisted for a host of oth...
Melissa Harrison - All Among the Barley
06 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Melissa Harrison is an acclaimed nature writer, novelist and podcaster. She joins James Naughtie and a group of her readers to discuss her novel All A...
Liane Moriarty - Big Little Lies
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Australian author Liane Moriarty about her New York Times bestselling novel Big Little Lies. Set in the ...
Amor Towles - A Gentleman in Moscow
04 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to Amor Towles about his bestselling novel A Gentleman in Moscow. The 30 year story of Count Alexander Ilyi...
Kei Miller - The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion
07 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to award winning poet, novelist and essayist Kei Miller about his Forward Prize Winning poetry collection T...
Tana French - The Wych Elm
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to acclaimed Irish crime writer Tana French about her novel The Wych Elm, which was named a New York Times ...
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
03 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Kazuo Ishiguro, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, discusses his novel Never Let Me Go with James Naughtie and a group of invited readers.In one...
David Vann - Legend of a Suicide
06 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
David Vann discusses his novel Legend of a Suicide with James Naughtie and this month's group of readers.Legend of a Suicide is an intimate and profou...
Tayari Jones - An American Marriage
01 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tayari Jones discusses An American Marriage, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019. The novel tells the story of Roy and Celestial, a newly we...
Joseph O'Connor - Star of the Sea
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph O'Connor talks about his novel of Irish emigration at the time of the Famine, Star of the Sea with James Naughtie and readers.In the winter of ...
Oyinkan Braithwaite - My Sister, The Serial Killer
06 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Oyinkan Braithwaite talks about her novel My Sister, The Serial Killer, a story full of deadpan wit and dark humour about two sisters in Lagos.Korede ...
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and Louise Welsh discussed Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
02 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
August's edition is a Classic Bookclub - Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped - and is part of BBC Radio 4's ongoing support for students during the Cov...
Scott Turow - Presumed Innocent
05 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Turow talks about his first thriller, Presumed Innocent, with James Naughtie and a group of readers. The novel was first published in Britain i...
Max Porter - Lanny
07 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Max Porter talks about his highly acclaimed novel Lanny, which was nominated for the Booker Prize 2019, and recently released in paperback. Max is on...
Rebecca Solnit - The Faraway Nearby
03 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rebecca Solnit is a leading American essayist and writer. She talks to James Naughtie and a group of invited readers about The Faraway Nearby, her rec...
Jenny Offill – Dept. of Speculation
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
American novelist Jenny Offill talks to James Naughtie and readers about her novel Dept. of Speculation.The novel is the story of a relationship betwe...
Marian Keyes - Rachel's Holiday
01 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Marian Keyes talks about one of her most popular novels, Rachel's Holiday.Rachel Walsh is an Irish woman in her late 20s living in New York, but whose...
James Meek - The People's Act of Love
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist James Meek talks about his novel The People's Act of Love, first published in 2005, a bold and imaginative work based in the wilds of Sibe...
Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus
05 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
American author Erin Morgenstern talks about her fantasy novel The Night Circus which has become a cult favourite with readers. James Naughtie presen...
Ben Lerner - Leaving the Atocha Station
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
American author Ben Lerner talks about Leaving the Atocha Station, his first novel narrated by a young man living outside his usual experience. Adam G...
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
03 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
To mark Bookclub's 21st birthday Helen Fielding talks about her creation Bridget Jones, with the first novel in the series, Bridget Jones's Diary. Bri...
Colson Whitehead - The Underground Railroad
08 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Colson Whitehead talks about his novel The Underground Railroad with James Naughtie and readersThe novel is a devastating and imaginative account of a...
Aminatta Forna - The Memory of Love
01 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Aminatta Forna discusses her novel The Memory of Love with James Naughtie and a group of readers. The Memory of Love has as its background three deca...
Owen Sheers - I Saw A Man
04 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Owen Sheers talks about his novel I Saw A Man with James Naughtie and a group of readers at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea.After the sudden loss of ...
Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
08 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Gail Honeyman talks about her novel Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine which won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award and has been a runaway success sinc...
David Szalay - All That Man Is
02 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
David Szalay discusses his novel All That Man Is which was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2016. All That Man Is is a meditation of modern ma...
Louise Doughty - Apple Tree Yard
05 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Louise Doughty talks about her novel Apple Tree Yard, which went on to be a popular BBC television drama. It is the story of Yvonne, a high-flying mar...
Richard Holmes - The Age of Wonder
09 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Holmes talks about The Age of Wonder, his non-fiction account of the Romantic age, as scientific and artistic thinking began to diverge. In th...
Simon Mawer - Tightrope
07 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Simon Mawer talks about Tightrope, an espionage story featuring the enigmatic agent Marian Sutro which is set during World War II and the years into t...
Alice Oswald - Falling Awake
03 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Alice Oswald, Radio 4's Poet in Residence, discusses her collection Falling Awake which won the Costa Poetry Prize 2016. Falling Awake explores two o...
Jessie Burton - The Miniaturist
06 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jessie Burton discusses The Miniaturist, her debut novel which was the subject of a bidding war between 11 publishers at the 2013 London Book Fair. Se...
Poet Simon Armitage on his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
11 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Simon Armitage talks to James Naughtie about his translation of the Middle English epic.
Meg Wolitzer - The Interestings
02 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
American author Meg Wolitzer discusses her novel The Interestings, which follows a group of friends from teenage years through to middle age and marri...
Historian Antonia Fraser discuss her book The Gunpowder Plot
05 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser.
Andrew Michael Hurley - The Loney
04 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Michael Hurley discusses his book The Loney which won the Costa First Novel Award in 2015. Recorded with an audience at the Liverpool Literary...
Anne Enright - The Gathering
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary
Karl Ove Knausgaard - A Death in the Family
07 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard discusses A Death in the Family, which is the first part of My Struggle, his series of memoirs which have a devot...
David Baddiel talks about Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont
25 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary
Madeline Miller - The Song of Achilles
02 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
James Naughtie and Madeline Miller discuss her debut novel The Song of Achilles which won the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012. In The Song of Achilles, ...
John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany.
23 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary
Neel Mukherjee - The Lives of Others
05 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Neel Mukherjee talks about his Man Booker Prize nominated book The Lives of Others, which explores the way an Indian family's history is disrupted whe...
Doris Lessing - The Grass is Singing
20 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary.
Colm Tóibín - Brooklyn
01 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Colm Tóibín discusses his best-selling novel Brooklyn with James Naughtie and a group of invited readers. Brooklyn follows the fortunes of a young I...
Jan Morris discusses her classic travel book Venice
14 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A treat from the Bookclub archive celebrating our 20th anniversary
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
03 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Margaret Atwood discusses her dystopian masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale with James Naughtie and a group of readers. This edition celebrates Bookclub's...