Donna Leon and Margaret Heffernan
The crime author and the writer-entrepreneur on books they love with Harriett Gilbert. Including a detective story, an anti-Western novel and a book set in the birth of Bangladesh.
The author of the Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series, Donna Leon, is joined by writer-entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan and the presenter Harriett Gilbert.
Donna has chosen a book by an author she greatly admires, Ross MacDonald, who she read before she became a writer herself. His 1971 noir novel, The Underground Man, follows a detective as he tries to track down a missing child, whilst a mysterious fire rages through the hills of Southern California. Margaret loves Butcher's Crossing, the lesser-known book by John Williams, the author of Stoner. Set in 1871, this is about a young Harvard drop-out who heads out into the American West to discover a new way of living and which Margaret describes as an 'anti-Western' novel. Meanwhile Harriett's choice is A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam, which follows a mother's struggle to protect her children as Bangladesh fights for independence.
Produced by Eliza Lomas.
Comment on instagram: @agoodreadbbc
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcast
- Tue 28 Mar 2023 16:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
Opening Lines
Books
Celebrating reading and the 100 novels that have shaped our world.