麻豆约拍

Patrick McGrath
Author Patrick McGrath joins Open Book to discuss his new novel, Trauma, set in 1970s New York. His novels are often centred around characters with unstable minds. Mariella asks Patrick whether this is the result of growing up in the shadow of Broadmoor Hospital, where his father was superintendent.

Herman Melville
Moby Dick is now the best known of Herman Melville鈥檚 books. However, Melville鈥檚 Israel Potter, a historical novel first published in 1856, has now been republished. The novelist Benjamin Markovits talk to Mariella about Melville, who worked for the Customs Revenue in New York for the latter part of his life, and died in relative obscurity.

Upstairs Downstairs
Bethan Robert鈥檚 second novel, The Good Plain Cook, follows the fortunes of a young woman entering domestic service in the 1930s. Why are authors drawn to write about the relationships between the upper classes and their servants? Kathryn Hughes and Bethan Roberts join Mariella to talk about the lure of upstairs/downstairs.