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Front Row: Tana French, Mary Wollstonecraft statue, Industry, Ralph McTell's The Unknown Warrior

Tana French, Mary Wollstonecraft statue, Industry, Ralph McTell's The Unknown Soldier

Tana French, Mary Wollstonecraft statue, Industry, Ralph McTell's The Unknown Warrior

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Tana French, Mary Wollstonecraft statue, Industry, Ralph McTell's The Unknown Warrior

Tana French on her new novel; Ralph McTell's musical tribute to The Unknown Soldier.

Tana French on her new thriller set in Ireland, The Searcher; Jacky Klein assesses the Mary Wollstonecraft statue; review of Industry; Ralph McTell's new EP, The Unknown Soldier.

Tana French is the creator of the Dublin Murder Squad crime books, that inspired the 2019 BBC TV series. Her gritty urban mysteries have been translated into 37 languages and sold around 7m copies worldwide, gaining praise from the likes of Stephen King and Marian Keyes. Her latest novel, The Searcher, moves the action to rural Ireland for the first time. A retired Chicago police officer reluctantly takes on the search for a missing teenager in a small town that seems tranquil on the surface but in reality is anything but. 

A new statue dedicated to Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18th-century advocate of women's rights, was unveiled this week at Newington Green in Islington, London, created by Maggi Hambling. It very quickly drew criticism from some because of its inclusion of a naked female figure. The art historian Jacky Klein gives her assessment.

Industry is a new BBC2 drama, directed by Lena Dunham, set in the financial district in London and focuses on a new intake of 20-somethings who must all compete for a limited set of positions at a top investment bank in London.  Kohinoor Sahota reviews.

Today is Armistice Day, and the day that, 100 years ago, the body of an unidentified soldier killed in the First World War was drawn in a solemn procession through London to be laid to rest at Westminster Abbey. The story of The Unknown Warrior moved the English musician Ralph McTell to write a song chronicling it. In Front Row he talks about this, the powerful symbolism of the ceremony and how he recruited Billy Connolly, Anthony Hopkins and Liam Neeson from each of the other nations of the United Kingdom, to speak some of his words. 

Presenter: Kirsty Lang 
Producer: Jerome Weatherald

Main image: Tana French
Image credit: Jessica Ryan

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