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Open Book

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books

Programme looking at new fiction and non-fiction books, talking to authors and publishers and unearthing lost classics

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Mariella Frostrup

Emma Hooper

Catherine Taylor

Sandip Roy

Open Book: Emma Hooper on Etta and Otto and Russell and James

Emma Hooper on Etta and Otto and Russell and James

18/01/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Open Book, Emma Hooper on Etta and Otto and Russell and James

Canadian writer Emma Hooper on her first book, Etta and Otto and Russell and James.

Presented by Mariella Frostrup. Emma Hooper discusses her debut novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James, plus the mystery surrounding novelist Elena Ferrante.

Canadian writer Emma Hooper talks to Mariella about her first novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James, the story of octogenarian Etta who sets off from her home in the Canadian prairies to walk the two thousand miles to the coast. She leaves behind her husband Otto and as she walks she remembers their childhood, and wartime courtship. Emma tells Mariella about her grandparents, who inspired the characters and her love of the bleak, harsh Saskatchewan landscape where the novel is set.

Catherine Taylor profiles the Italian novelist Elena Ferrante who has ardent fans around the the world, but who remains resolutely private - refusing to give interviews or make public appearances.

Sandip Roy sends a postcard from India and Ben Okri, who won the Man Booker prize for his novel The Famished Road, reveals why his copy of Don Quixote is the book he'd never lend.

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