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Woman's Hour

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Deborah Levy

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Virginia Ironside

Julia Sutherland

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Paula Wilcox

Woman's Hour: Paula Wilcox, Deborah Levy

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Paula Wilcox, Deborah Levy

24/03/2016

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Paula Wilcox, Deborah Levy

Actor Paula Wilcox; author Deborah Levy; what is your defining decade? Jayne Senior.

Author Deborah Levy and her new novel; are your 20s your defining decade? Jayne Senior and her campaign to expose the child sexual abuse in Rotherham; Paula Wilcox.

Deborah Levy's latest novel, Hot Milk is Radio 4's Book at Bedtime this week. A fraught inter-dependent relationship between mother and daughter, set in Almeria, Southern Spain, it follows Sophia and her mother Rose as they try to find a cure for Rose's mysterious paralysis. The Man Booker-shortlisted novelist tells Jenni why she wanted to write about mothers and daughters, and hypochondria. 

Of all the decades of life, your twenties seems to be the one where the pressure is off. Not so, says Dr Meg Jay, whose book The Defining Decade argues that your twenties is the best decade to get serious and put the groundwork in for a successful life. We hear from her and speak to Virginia Ironside and Julia Sutherland about whether our twenties really define us.

From 1999 Jayne Senior managed a youth project in Rotherham called Risky Business - working with girls at risk of and experiencing sexual abuse. She befriended the girls, and fought to expose the scandal of child sexual exploitation. Yet still the authorities failed to act. Today she publishes her memoir, Broken and Betrayed, and joins Jenni to talk about her long and committed struggle to help the girls being abused.

The second series of the BBC One sitcom Boomers begins this Friday. It follows the ups and downs of three couples spending their retirement in Thurnemouth, 'Norfolk's only West-facing resort'. Among its cast are Paula Wilcox, Alison Steadman, Russ Abbot, Stephanie Beacham, June Whitfield and James Smith. Paula Wilcox joins Jenni.

Presenter: Jenni Murray
Producer: Kirsty Starkey.

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