“Tackling the issue of long-term mental illness with wit and candour, Mason’s remarkable novel takes a rounded, empathetic look at the condition through the experiences of a middle-aged woman who has struggled to find contentment in her adult life” ~ Waterstones--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

“Tackling the issue of long-term mental illness with wit and candour, Mason’s remarkable novel takes a rounded, empathetic look at the condition through the experiences of a middle-aged woman who has struggled to find contentment in her adult life” ~ Waterstones --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Gabrielle Zevin

But there she was Sadie Green, in the flesh. And to see her almost made him want to cry. It was as if she were a mathematical proof that had eluded him for many years, but all at once, with fresh, well-rested eyes, the proof had a completely obvious solution. There’s Sadie, he thought. Yes. ‘A brilliant story about life’s most challenging puzzles: friendship, family, love, loss’ ~ Nathan Hill, author of The Nix--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

But there she was Sadie Green, in the flesh. And to see her almost made him want to cry. It was as if she were a mathematical proof that had eluded him for many years, but all at once, with fresh, well-rested eyes, the proof had a completely obvious solution. There’s Sadie, he thought. Yes. ‘A brilliant story about life’s most challenging puzzles: friendship, family, love, loss’ ~ Nathan Hill, author of The Nix --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Waterstones book of 2022, British Book Awards author of 2023, debut novelist Bonnie Garmus brings us Lessons in Chemistry. “smart,funny, joyous and powerful featuring an unconventional female scientist with a quiet game plan to change the world”. Listen in to our discussion! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

Waterstones book of 2022, British Book Awards author of 2023, debut novelist Bonnie Garmus brings us Lessons in Chemistry. “smart,funny, joyous and powerful featuring an unconventional female scientist with a quiet game plan to change the world”. Listen in to our discussion! --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 

John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world. In this episode you’ll hear Christina, Tony and James sharing their thoughts about the book. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world. In this episode you’ll hear Christina, Tony and James sharing their thoughts about the book. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Stoner by John Williams

Kamila Shamsie

A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people – from the international bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.This year, 1988, anything seems possible for the girls; and for Pakistan, emerging from the darkness of dictatorship into a bright future under another young woman, Benazir Bhutto. But a snap decision at a party celebrating the return of democracy brings the girls’ childhoods abruptly to an end. Its consequences will shape their futures in ways they cannot imagine.Three decades later, in London, Zahra and Maryam are still best friends despite living very different lives. But when unwelcome ghosts from their shared past re-enter their world, both women find themselves driven to act in ways that will stretch and twist their bond beyond all recognition.Best of Friends is a novel about Britain today, about power and how we use it, and about what we owe to those who’ve loved us the longest.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people – from the international bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. This year, 1988, anything seems possible for the girls; and for Pakistan, emerging from the darkness of dictatorship into a bright future under another young woman, Benazir Bhutto. But a snap decision at a party celebrating the return of democracy brings the girls’ childhoods abruptly to an end. Its consequences will shape their futures in ways they cannot imagine. Three decades later, in London, Zahra and Maryam are still best friends despite living very different lives. But when unwelcome ghosts from their shared past re-enter their world, both women find themselves driven to act in ways that will stretch and twist their bond beyond all recognition. Best of Friends is a novel about Britain today, about power and how we use it, and about what we owe to those who’ve loved us the longest. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie

Rachel Elliott

A brilliantly moving story of the cost of secrets and the power of hope, Flamingo revolves around two families, an unforgettable summer they spend together and a re-encounter decades later that changes everything. Waterstones--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A brilliantly moving story of the cost of secrets and the power of hope, Flamingo revolves around two families, an unforgettable summer they spend together and a re-encounter decades later that changes everything. Waterstones --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Flamingo by Rachel Elliott

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe, Still Life by Sarah Winman, A Town Solace called Solace by Mary Lawson--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe, Still Life by Sarah Winman, A Town Solace called Solace by Mary Lawson --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Gloucester Book Club’s top 3 novels of 2022

Ian McEwan

“In October 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, an English schoolboy arrives unannounced at his piano teacher’s house. He stands on her doorstep in his drainpipe trousers and sharp-toed winklepickers, twitchy with eroticised terror. The boy, Roland Baines, is 14; his teacher, Miss Cornell, is 25. Roland fears that the world is about to end, and he will die a virgin. Miss Cornell does not turn him away. What happens between them in that quiet cottage will score a line across Roland’s life. It is “the moment from which all else fanned out and upwards with the extravagance of a peacock’s tail”. Guardian --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

“In October 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, an English schoolboy arrives unannounced at his piano teacher’s house. He stands on her doorstep in his drainpipe trousers and sharp-toed winklepickers, twitchy with eroticised terror. The boy, Roland Baines, is 14; his teacher, Miss Cornell, is 25. Roland fears that the world is about to end, and he will die a virgin. Miss Cornell does not turn him away. What happens between them in that quiet cottage will score a line across Roland’s life. It is “the moment from which all else fanned out and upwards with the extravagance of a peacock’s tail”. Guardian --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Lessons by Ian McEwan

Kate Atkinson

A festive tale  from ‘Festive Spirits’ written by Kate Atkinson 2019.  Read by Christina Young--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A festive tale  from ‘Festive Spirits’ written by Kate Atkinson 2019.  Read by Christina Young --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Small Mercies - a Christmas short story by Kate Atkinson

Val McDermid

A short story taken from a chilling collection of short stories ‘Christmas is Murder’ published by Sphere in 2020--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A short story taken from a chilling collection of short stories ‘Christmas is Murder’ published by Sphere in 2020 --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

The Girl who Killed Santa Claus by Val McDermid. Narrated by Christina Young 

With so many great books out there, do you find it hard to choose your next read? Let Gloucester book club help you decide. Every month we pick one book we’ve read together and share our thoughts in our podcast!

Jo Browning Wroe

Nineteen-year-old William’s decision to volunteer at the tragic scene of the 1966 Aberfan landslide transforms his life forever in this moving story about sacrifice and compassion.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

Nineteen-year-old William’s decision to volunteer at the tragic scene of the 1966 Aberfan landslide transforms his life forever in this moving story about sacrifice and compassion. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe

Patrick Gale

A moving and intensely felt examination of the lengths to which we will go to seek protection and security in others. Returning to haunted Cornish landscapes familiar from other Gale novels, it is the story of individuals in search of a family.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A moving and intensely felt examination of the lengths to which we will go to seek protection and security in others. Returning to haunted Cornish landscapes familiar from other Gale novels, it is the story of individuals in search of a family. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

A Sweet Obscurity by Patrick Gale

Michael Bartlett

A spooky short story taken from a wonderful collection of gothic fairy tales and poetry, where nothing and no one is as they seem…..--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A spooky short story taken from a wonderful collection of gothic fairy tales and poetry, where nothing and no one is as they seem….. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Mirror Mirror by Michael Bartlett read by Christina Young 

A short story for Halloween from Spooky Ambiguous - a collection of ghost stories and poetry, fangs and fairy tales published by Crumps Barn Studio in the Cotswolds and read by Christina Young --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A short story for Halloween from Spooky Ambiguous - a collection of ghost stories and poetry, fangs and fairy tales published by Crumps Barn Studio in the Cotswolds and read by Christina Young --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

For Halloween 🎃🧛Blood Moon by Amaris Chase 

Ten years ago, Sophie Shaw vanished. Kat, a technician who works in a DNA testing lab, is still haunted by the unsolved disappearance, and when she notices a suspicious tweet about the case online, she calls in a tip. A few weeks later she learns that a man is being questioned, and drunkenly sends out a tweet of her own, boasting about her role in this breakthrough by the police.But the man is released and Kat quickly finds herself back on Twitter, navigating through the abusive messages she’s received and initiating an angry exchange with the anonymous man she’s convinced has escaped justice. Unfortunately, though, she failed to hide her real identity—and soon she starts feeling paranoid about every man she encounters. As her drinking escalates and her life begins to fall apart, it’s unclear whether someone is really out to destroy her—or if she is destroying herself . . . --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

Ten years ago, Sophie Shaw vanished. Kat, a technician who works in a DNA testing lab, is still haunted by the unsolved disappearance, and when she notices a suspicious tweet about the case online, she calls in a tip. A few weeks later she learns that a man is being questioned, and drunkenly sends out a tweet of her own, boasting about her role in this breakthrough by the police. But the man is released and Kat quickly finds herself back on Twitter, navigating through the abusive messages she’s received and initiating an angry exchange with the anonymous man she’s convinced has escaped justice. Unfortunately, though, she failed to hide her real identity—and soon she starts feeling paranoid about every man she encounters. As her drinking escalates and her life begins to fall apart, it’s unclear whether someone is really out to destroy her—or if she is destroying herself . . . --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

In conversation with Christine Jordan, author of her debut crime novel ‘Misper’

A spooky story for Halloween set in the English countryside taken from a collection of short stories and poetry with a witchy feel ‘Spooky Ambiguous’. Published by Crumps Barn Studios. Read by Christina Young --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

A spooky story for Halloween set in the English countryside taken from a collection of short stories and poetry with a witchy feel ‘Spooky Ambiguous’. Published by Crumps Barn Studios. Read by Christina Young --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

A Halloween spooky story! 🎃👻. The Strange Tale of the Hobnail Boots by Margaret Royall

Isabel Allende

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This sweeping novel from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century."An immersive saga about a passion-filled life."--PeopleVioleta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.Through her father's prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling.She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life is shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women's rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and ultimately not one, but two pandemics.Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This sweeping novel from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century. "An immersive saga about a passion-filled life."--People Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth. Through her father's prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling. She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life is shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women's rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and ultimately not one, but two pandemics. Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Violeta by Isabel Allende

Jon McGregor

Award-winning novelist Jon McGregor returns with a stunning novel that tenderly unpicks the notion of heroism and explores the indomitable human impulse to tell our stories - even when words fail us.  The line between sacrifice and selfishness, this is a story of the undervalued, unrecognised courage it can take just to get through the day.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

Award-winning novelist Jon McGregor returns with a stunning novel that tenderly unpicks the notion of heroism and explores the indomitable human impulse to tell our stories - even when words fail us.  The line between sacrifice and selfishness, this is a story of the undervalued, unrecognised courage it can take just to get through the day. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor

Caroline Criado Perez

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER*'HELL YES. This is one of those books that has the potential to change things - a monumental piece of research' Caitlin MoranImagine a world where...· Your phone is too big for your hand· Your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body· In a car accident you are 47% more likely to be injured.If any of that sounds familiar, chances are you're a woman.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER* 'HELL YES. This is one of those books that has the potential to change things - a monumental piece of research' Caitlin Moran Imagine a world where... · Your phone is too big for your hand · Your doctor prescribes a drug that is wrong for your body · In a car accident you are 47% more likely to be injured. If any of that sounds familiar, chances are you're a woman. --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Delia Owens

Abandoned as a girl, Kya raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the marsh girl haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, she opens herself to a new and startling world.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message

Abandoned as a girl, Kya raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the marsh girl haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, she opens herself to a new and startling world.--- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christina-young31/message</a>

The British Book Awards Book of the Year Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - podcast updated July 2022

Books & Chat

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The best podcast episodes on global issues affecting everyone. Covering topics such as the #metoo movement, climate change, the impact of technology and some of the biggest global issues facing us right now. For anyone interested in learning more about the world, and some of the issues we're facing, pick an episode below and start listening! Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!