Bookclub

Updated: 05 Oct 2025 • 343 episodes
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5sf

Led by James Naughtie, a group of readers talk to acclaimed authors about their best-known novels

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05 Oct 2025 • EN

John Niven

Led by presenter, James Naughtie, the writer John Niven speaks to Radio 4's Bookclub programme about his 2008 novel, Kill Your Friends, which is a darkly comic satire of the UK music industry, as told through the perspective of the sadistic, Steven Stelfox, an A&R executive (Artists and Repertoire) for a London record

29 min
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29:06
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07 Sep 2025 • EN

Paula Hawkins

Presented by James Naughtie, Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the writer Paula Hawkins about her debut thriller The Girl On The Train. The book was published by Doubleday in 2015 to great acclaim and has sold millions of copies. Told in the first-person the novel's protagonist is Rachel Watson, a 33-year-old divorcee with

29 min
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29:06
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03 Aug 2025 • EN

Kit de Waal

Presented by James Naughtie, BBC Radio 4's Bookclub, speaks to the award-winning writer Kit de Waal about her heart-rending debut novel, My Name Is Leon. Published in 2016 by Penguin it's the story of two brothers separated after one is adopted. The book, now taught on the curriculum in English schools, takes us back t

28 min
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28:40
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Tom Holland 06 Jul 2025 • EN

Tom Holland

Presented by James Naughtie, Bookclub speaks to the award-winning writer, historian, and podcaster, Tom Holland, about his book Rubicon, which looks at the triumph and tragedy of the Roman Republic. Originally published in 2003, the book won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize for non-fiction, and it unravels the myths and r

28 min
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28:37
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01 Jun 2025 • EN

Joanne Harris: Chocolat

Led by presenter James Naughtie, the writer Joanne Harris takes questions from a BBC Bookclub audience on her best-selling novel, Chocolat. Published in 1999, the book follows the character of Vianne Rocher, a chocolate-maker and sometime witch, who arrives in the village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes with her six-year-old

28 min
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28:35
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04 May 2025 • EN

Natalie Haynes

Led by presenter James Naughtie, a BBC Bookclub audience in Glasgow speaks to the author Natalie Haynes about her 2019 novel - A Thousand Ships - which retells the ancient Greek myths from a woman's perspective. Penelope, Clytemnestra, Andromache and Cassandra among others, all make appearances, but their stories are g

28 min
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28:41
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