The Waterstones Podcast

Caroline O’Donoghue’s new novel for adults, The Rachel Incident, is a love story but just not the one you might be expecting from the book’s premise. Set in the post-economic crash Republic of Ireland of 2009 it sees our eponymous heroine looking for love and to be taken seriously in a world full of uncertainty. We sat down to talk about friendship, making memories and cultural touchstones.

After her attention-grabbing debut novel, The Girls, Emma Cline has been quietly getting on with the business of writing. A story collection, Daddy, is now followed by a new novel, The Guest, another stylish display of Cline’s considerable skills that follows a young woman, drifting amongst the elite of Long Island, with the threat of everything being washed away with one wrong decision. We sat down to speak about literary influences, avoiding the obvious and portraying femininity.

Stories of seafaring, shipwreck, mutiny and murder have long held a fascination, particularly for dwellers of this island nation and in his latest investigative piece of narrative non-fiction, David Grann has a tale that grips from first page to last. The Wager was a vessel shipwrecked in the 1740s, its crew presumed lost, until a group of survivors washed up on the coast of Brazil. Their story of survival would have been incredible enough except for a second group of survivors to appear in Chile with stories of mutiny, murder and even cannibalism. What follows is not so much a question of who is telling the truth, but of who gets to tell the story that will become the truth. A court martial of individuals but also the idea of Empire itself. We sat down to talk about the pursuit of truth, human survival and the power of stories to endure.

It’s an old question but one that seems to be asked with increasing frequency in the era of so-called cancel culture: can you separate the art from the artist? After Essayist and memoir-writer Claire Dederer wrote a viral article about her own response to Roman Polanski she looked further into the lives and works of other problematic figures. The result, Monsters, is a personal and entirely subjective look at creatives like Woody Allen, Miles Davis, Michael Jackson, Pablo Picasso and more, that invites the reader to really think about how they feel about the art they love that comes to be stained in some way. We sat down to talk about art monsters, creative genius, and self-indictment.

There is no stopping Rebecca Kuang. With the Poppy War trilogy already under her belt and the fantastic success of Waterstones Book of the Year nominee Babel, she has reinvented herself once again this year with Yellowface, a literary thriller that satirises the very industry she’s involved in, publishing and bookselling. As someone who has worked in both of those industries myself, not to mention the world of social media for 15 years, I couldn’t wait to read this one and was even more excited to sit down and talk with Rebecca about her approach to writing, her insights from the industry, and where she might take readers next.

Caleb Azumah Nelson made a huge impression with his debut novel Open Water, an emotionally complex novel of love that was also a celebration of black creativity. His new novel, Small Worlds, continues both of those themes, whilst also looking at notions of family, home and a connection with the authors own Ghanaian culture. We sat down for a talk about love, memory and the creative urge.

When Han Kang won the International Booker Prize in 2016 the bonus for readers was that there were more of her books ready to be translated into English. Her latest, Greek Lessons, features a woman who has stopped speaking and her professor, a man who has gradually been losing his sight in a tale of human connection and communication, translated once again by her fellow Booker-winner Deborah Smith, working this time with Emily Yae Won. I sat down with her and interpreter Mi Na Sketchley to talk about the novel’s inspiration, style and experience for the reader.

Emily Henry had already published four young adult novels before turning 30 but with her fifth, Beach Read, and a switch to writing romantic comedy for adults she found a whole new level of engagement with readers. With huge popularity on TikTok and a boom in romantic fiction in general, we sat down to talk about writing through phases in life, creating relatable characters and whether those cartoon covers are hiding something a little darker inside.

In Diana Evans’ previous book we were introduced to the couple Melissa and Michael. That novel, Ordinary People, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Rathbones Folio Prize, and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. It was also beloved by readers and so many of those will be delighted to hear that her latest novel, A House for Alice, continues their story, together with that of Melissa’s family, headed up by her mother, the titular Alice. I sat down with Diana to talk about being driven by your characters, the complexities of family dynamics and why there will never be any place like home.

In 2022, Sheena Patel published her debut novel I’m A Fan and was chosen as one of the Observer’s Top 10 best debut novelists. In the book, an unnamed narrator tells us about the similarly unnamed ‘woman I am obsessed with’ and ‘man I want to be with’ in a tale of social media, obsessive love, power, privilege and race. It’s an incendiary novel, chosen by Foyles as their fiction Book of the Year and one I knew would allow us to have a frank and funny conversation about where we find ourselves right now.

Benjamin Myers is the kind of writer who has devoted readers. A series of novels over the last 15 years or so, particularly those published by indie imprint Bluemoose, have earned him awards, plaudits, and many dedicated booksellers keen to hand-sell his books. His prolific output belies the fact that for the last 5 years he has been working on Cuddy, a novel that takes inspiration from Saint Cuthbert, the unofficial patron saint of the North of England. What led an atheist to write a novel about faith, and how did he alight on the novel’s multiple timelines and connected narratives? Join us as we find out.

Tiffany McDaniel’s previous novel, Betty, made such a huge impact with booksellers and readers that we were delighted to make it the fiction book of the month back in August 2021. It was brutal read at times, but violence and poverty were combined with an attention to language that made it a must-read for many. Her new novel, On the Savage Side, deals in similarly dark terrain so I sat down with Tiffany to talk about the real unsolved crime that inspired it, writing about the most difficult things and finding hope in the darkness.

Together with the disruption caused by the global pandemic and the lockdown periods that accompanied it, many people were left with a sense that things weren’t quite right, though it proved hard to put a finger on exactly what was wrong. Feelings of fatigue, anxiety and the great overwhelm led writer Katherine May to seek a closer connection to nature’s ability to inspire both wonder and something slightly more magical - enchantment. We sat down to talk about play, pebbles and why you’ll never regret a paddle.

The novels of Sebastian Barry form an intriguing web of family history and his latest, Old God's Time, follows a retired policeman who is forced to reckon with the past as an old case rears its head. We spoke with two-time Costa Book of the Year-winner Sebastian Barry about fleshing out the past, fatherhood and falling in love.

Peter Frankopan's epic new history, The Earth Transformed, begins at the very dawn of our planet, 4.5 billion years ago, and shows how climatic changes have shaped nations, notions, religions and empires. We sat down to talk about the science behind his new work, some of the astounding discoveries, and what the past can teach us about our current crisis.

Many people find it difficult to know how to speak with others about death and grieving, especially when the experience of it can be so intensely personal. In an extended conversation we speak with three authors who have shared their own experiences and wisdom; Chloe Hooper, author of Bedtime Story, Michael Rosen, author of Getting Better and Cariad Lloyd, creator of Griefcast and author of You Are Not Alone. 

Tom Rob Smith became an international bestselling author with his debut, Child 44, but he's not a writer to rest on his laurels. His new novel, Cold People, is a piece of speculative fiction which sees the human race adapting to survive in the most inhospitable part of the planet: Antarctica. We spoke with him about alien invaders, human tenacity and what the future might really hold.

Shooting to stardom with his debut Less Than Zero aged just 21, courting controversy with his bestseller American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis returns with his first novel for 13 years, a fusion of fact and fiction called The Shards. We spoke with the author about notoriety, being a teenager and the similarities between writers and serial killers.

After almost two years where book events had to take place online only, we take a moment to celebrate the return of in-person events with a trip to the Cheltenham Literature Festival and our flagship shop in London Piccadilly. We speak with Ian Rankin, Malorie Blackman, Anna James and Geena Davis about connecting with readers, the questions that come up, and why you should always meet your heroes.

When E. H. Gombrich's seminal work of art history, The Story of Art, was first published in 1950 it featured precisely zero female artists. Even today its latest edition features only one. Luckily Katy Hessel has produced The Story of Art Without Men, a timely corrective that puts women centre stage as we have too in this episode of the podcast which sees Katy in conversation with artist and illustrator, Lizzy Stewart, whose latest graphic novel, Alison, follows her heroine's creative awakening against the London art scene of the 50s, 60s and 70s.