The Radio 2 Book Club

• 'The Merge' by Grace Walker

  Debut novelist, Grace Walker, joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to chat about her claustrophobic, dystopian page-turner - 'The Merge' The book asks a lot of questions for the reader, so Sara and Grace discuss some of those 'what would YOU do?' moments, as well as finding out some of the inspirations behind the plot and storylines. (it turns out, a conversation about not wanting to live in your partner's body can spark a whole novel) Grace also gives us her book recommendation of the moment, and shares one of the horror stories from writing this particular book - the sort no writer wants to hear! Here's some more info on 'The Merge'Laurie is sixty-five and living with Alzheimer’s. Her daughter Amelia can’t bear to see her mother’s mind fade. Faced with the reality of losing her forever, Amelia signs them up to take part in the world’s first experimental merging process for Alzheimer’s patients, in which Laurie’s ailing mind will be transferred into Amelia’s healthy body and their consciousness will be blended as one.Soon Amelia and Laurie join a group of other merge participants: teenage Lucas, who plans to merge with his terminally ill brother Noah; Ben, who will merge with his pregnant fiancée Annie; and Jay, whose merging partner is his unwilling addict daughter Lara.As they prepare to move to The Village, a luxurious rehabilitation centre for those who have merged, they quickly begin to question whether everything is really as it seems.

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• The Radio 2 Book Club Christmas Special

  Former librarian turned book influencer, Simon Savidge, joins Sara for a chat about his favourite books of the year - and - his recommendations for great Christmas gifts. His choices include three novels (for that person who's already read everything!), three kids books (to inspire and entertain young minds) and three works of non-fiction (for the hard-to-buy-for person in your life). SIMON'S RECOMMENDATIONSFiction: On The Calculation of Volume (Book 1) by Solvej Balle A Room Above A Shop by Anthony Shapland Love Forms by Claire Adam Younger Readers: Dungeon Runners by Kieran Larwood Impossible Creatures by Katherine Randell Somadina by Akwaeke EmeziNon-Fiction: Agent Zo by Clare Mulley The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein A Thousand Threads by Neneh CherryHis go-to Christmas book: Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson

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• Superstar Librarian, Karen McPherson, shares her Top Five Reads of the Year

  Sara welcomes former library worker turned head of all things Radio 2 Book Club, Karen McPherson, to the podcast. They chat about how we choose our titles each year, the joy of libraries, 'the fight room' - plus - Karen also shares her Top Five Reads Of The Year. The Names by Florence KnappShow Me Where it Hurts by Claire GleesonThis Bright Life by Karen CampbellOne Yellow Eye by Leigh RadfordThe Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks

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• 'The Shapeshifter's Daughter' by Sally Magnusson

  Broadcaster and author Sally Magnusson returns to The Radio 2 Book Club once more, to discuss her new novel 'The Shapeshifter's Daughter'. The book is a re-telling of the Norse myth of Hel - set across the mythological realm of Asgard and present day Orkney Islands. Sally chats to Sara about her fascination with Scandanavia, the challenges of re-writing a myth and why Orkney is such a special place. We also hear a snippet from the audiobook, get a great book recommendation - and learn about what happened to the original Mastermind chair! (Sally's Dad was the great journalist and TV Presenter Magnus Magnusson)Here's a little more info on 'The Shapeshifter's Daughter':Before she was a hideous monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of lofty Asgard, realm of the gods, by Odin the Allfather, Hel's fate as the terrible goddess of death is sealed. Half beauty, half crone, she has reigned for aeons in the starless darkness of Niflheim, grimly welcoming the most pitiful of death's travellers to her ice-locked prison. Until one day a memory shifts, and she is forced to seek out the sun in Midgard, where humans have made their home.Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Helen Firth makes the impulsive decision to return to Orkney after forty years to make peace with her past. Under the wintering solstice sun, she reconnects with the ungainly but affable Thorfinn Coffin, who helps her address the real reason she has returned to the islands: to die. As Helen draws closer to death and ever closer to Thorfinn, Hel in turn is intrigued by Helen. She, too, has a past to confront and a lesson to learn: that perhaps who she believes herself to be isn't who she really is.

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• 'King Sorrow' by Joe Hill

  Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, Joe Hill, joins Sara to chat about his epic new novel 'King Sorrow'. This book has been 10 years in the making and, as Joe explains, is the first novel he published after getting married to his wife - so wanted to impress her. Sara and Joe chat about his inspirations behind the book, how his family (all of whom are writers) share their work with each other, and why he has now chosen to write a book a year. (no more 900 pages for a while!) We also get to hear a clip from the audiobook, and a book recommendation too. Here's a little more info on Joe's novel: Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.

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