A Good Read

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A Good Read: Sophie Hannah and Viv Groskop

Sophie Hannah and Viv Groskop

BBC Radio 4 - A Good Read, Sophie Hannah and Viv Groskop

Broken friendships, life on the stage, and a sinister talking dog all feature this week.

Crime writer Sophie Hannah, journalist and comedian Viv Groskop, and presenter Harriett Gilbert recommend three books full of surprises.

Sophie Hannah and Viv Groskop join Harriett Gilbert to talk about books they love.

Sophie, an Agatha Christie expert and superfan, recommends The Rose and the Yew Tree, a book – misleadingly billed as a romance, she says – that Christie wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She claims it can rival any detective novel for suspense and intrigue. Will Harriett and Viv agree?

Harriett champions Dame Eileen Atkin’s recent memoir Will She Do? which charts the first 30 years of the actor's life, including her time as a child soubrette, performing in working men’s clubs as ‘Baby Eileen’.

Writer, podcaster and stand-up Viv Groskop recalls her time living in Russia in the 1990s and explains why she thinks The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov, a 1920s satire about science gone very wrong, will become increasingly relevant in the months and years ahead.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Sarah Goodman.

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