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HARDtalk: Lionel Shriver - Author

17/10/2011

Lionel Shriver - Author

BBC News Channel - HARDtalk, Lionel Shriver - Author

Sarah Montague talks to Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to talk about Kevin.

Sarah Montague talks to author Lionel Shriver whose novel about a mass killer and his mother achieved best-seller status through word of mouth and is now an acclaimed film.

It was word of mouth that propelled the novel We Need to talk about Kevin onto the best seller lists. It had been given very little publicity. Its author, Lionel Shriver, had struggled to find a publisher in the first place. It was deemed too dark and uncomfortable a read - the musings of a mother on the son she never really liked who turns into a mass killer. 

Now the story has been made into a critically acclaimed film and is about to reach even larger audiences. HARDtalk's Sarah Montague asks why such an unnatural tale has proved so compelling?

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