In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.

But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA

was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.

Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? When lies are still being told to this day,

who do you believe? I wouldn't even know where to start and I'm with the IRA.

Steakknife. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Welcome to a new year in literature and one where, as part of the BBC's year-long celebration of the novel,

will be pondering the power stories have to transform us.

Last November, I joined a panel of fellow book lovers to compile the BBC's 100 novels that shaped our world, a list which ranges from popular page

turners to literary classics, under banners ranging from crime and conflict to love and romance.

Today we thought we'd look at a particularly pertinent one of those themes, that of identity,

from Tony Morrison's landmark vision of the legacy of slavery and beloved,

to Sylvia Plath's depiction of a young woman living with depression in the Beljar,

the common ground lies in their exploration of who we are, however various.

Joining me to discuss the place of identity in our books, our academic Ella Wakatama, OBE, Chair of the Cain Prize

for African Writing and Editor at Large at Canongate, the novelist Charlotte Mendelson, whose novels

span the complexity of women's lives, her most recent, almost English, was a booker contender.

And Derek Awosu, a writer, poet and podcaster who has edited and contributed to

Safe on Black British Men reclaiming space and whose first work of fiction, that reminds me,

has just been published. Welcome to you all. Looking at the list, could you pick from it your

favourite example of a book that's shaped your world?

Perhaps I can start with you, Charlotte.

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