BBC Radio 4 Extra

Bookclub at 20

Authors introduce classics from the literary archive.

Authors introduce classics from the literary archive and remember their own appearances on the literary discussion series.

Bookclub at 20: David Nicholls on Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty

David Nicholls on Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty

06/06/2018

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Bookclub at 20, David Nicholls on Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty

David Nicholls remembers appearing on Bookclub with his book One Day.

David Nicholls remembers appearing on Bookclub with his book One Day, and why he has chosen Alan Hollinghurst's 2004 Man Booker prize-winning novel The Line of Beauty.

To celebrate Bookclub's 20th anniversary, the programme is inviting guest authors to choose a favourite from the rich Bookclub archive. In this edition David Nicholls introduces Alan Hollinghurst's appearance in 2015 when he discussed his novel The Line of Beauty with James Naughtie and a group of readers. 

David Nicholls also describes his own experience of Bookclub and how it made him think back to what it was like to write his bestseller One Day. He discusses his admiration for Hollinghurst's novel including the depth of his research and his ability to sometimes only write 300 words a day. 

Framed by the general elections of 1983 and 1987 which returned Margaret Thatcher to power, The Line of Beauty is a story of love, class, sex and money - and AIDs. It won praise for the way it crawls deep under the skin of 1980's Britain. 

Protagonist Nick Guest is a young, gay Oxford graduate of modest means who is invited to stay with the wealthy Fedden family at their Notting Hill home. The father Gerald is a Conservative MP consumed by his rising status within the party; his wife Rachel is from the landed gentry - and therefore old money. Daughter Catherine is a manic depressive, whilst Nick has had a crush on the son Toby since their time together at University. The Line of Beauty won the Man Booker Prize in 2004.

Producer : Dymphna Flynn

First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2012.

Bookclub at 20 is produced for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Belinda Naylor.

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