October really lends itself to thinking about atmospheric old houses, and this is what we’re doing in this episode of the podcast. We chat to Claire Fuller, whose latest novel takes place in an around Lyntons, a dilapidated country estate where its protagonist – the now dying Frances Jellico – spent the scourging summer of 1969. 'Bitter Orange' welcomes us to a house as full of secrets as the couple staying there at the same time as Frances, with whom she becomes increasingly obsessed.
We’re also joined by Liz Fenwick, Cornwall-based novelist and supporter of the crowdfunding campaign which made the expansion of Mr B’s possible earlier this year.
Hosted by Jessica Johannesson with music by The Bookshop Band
Take a look at our Between These Walls reading list.
As an increasing number of us wake up to the climate and ecological crises, it becomes clear that climate change is as much a question of narrative, storytelling, psychology and human behaviour as it is about science. How could it not be in the stories we read?
In the first of what will be a series of podcasts highlighting writing concerned with our time of crisis, writer Emma Geen, author of the novel 'The Many Selves of Katherine North', joins Jess and Henry to talk about novels which actively engage with climate change whilst looking beyond the apocalyptic, into possible new ways of thinking and being human. We also met up with prize-winning author Amitav Ghosh to discuss his new novel Gun Island, why he wouldn't classify his own writing as 'cli-fi' and the potential problem with dystopias.
Hosted by Jessica Johannesson with music by The Bookshop Band
Take a look at our Climate Crisis in Fiction reading list.
Sherlock and Watson may be the epitome of a mystery-solving duo, but when put to the task of finding others, the Mr B’s team went down some unexpected literary trails. Join Jess, Ed and Tom M as they discuss larger-than life characters in search for clues, characters who are like two sides of a coin, and why we struggled to find female detective pairs. We also chat to the wonderful Jess Kidd about her new novel 'Things in Jars', which not only features a ghost-boxer sidekick, but mixes state-of-the-art banter with stunningly lyrical passages describing Victorian London.
Hosted by Jessica Johannesson with music by The Bookshop Band
Have a browse through our Two Bs in a Pod reading list .
This month Jess talks to the Mexican author Valeria Luiselli about her most recent novel "The Lost Children Archive", a bold and wise book which is as much about protecting our children, and being children ourselves, as it is about the horrors of the refugee experience, as currently seen around the US-Mexico border.
'The Lost Children' archive is also fascinating in the way it deals with recordings of reality and everyday experience, including sounds. We talk to Valeria about the sounds which surrounded her during night-time sessions writing the book, finishing up with a sound experiment of our own.
Hosted by Jessica Johannesson with music by The Bookshop Band
If you like the sound of 'The Lost Children Archive' take a look at this reading list for more reading suggestions.
The Mr B's Podcast (we're so sorry!) has been on a winter break, but we had a good excuse: we were hard at work with our shop expansion. Suitably, we also thought that the first episode of 2019 should focus on things which are kind of the same but not quite. Not that our new space is a replica of the old one...but you get the picture.
Join us as we chat to authors Simon Garfield and Edward Carey, who both visited the shop at the end of last year. Simon Garfield's curious, insightful and entertaining book 'In Miniature' explores our ancient fascination with small versions of everyday things and the craftsmanship involved in making them. Edward Carey, a novelist very close to our hearts, has just published his first novel for adults - a superbly atmospheric fictional biography of the queen of replicas herself: Madame Tussaud.
Hosted by Jessica Johannesson with music by The Bookshop Band
Browse through our Same but Different reading list