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.

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Hello. Today we're talking old age and female friendship, armchair travel in the age of

lockdown, and the subtleties of narrative voice. We begin with the Australian novelist Charlotte

Wood, whose award-winning sixth novel, The Weekend, tells the story of three women in their 70s,

gathering in the thunderous summer heat of an Australian Christmas

to clear out the house of their recently deceased friend.

The three are very different women,

bonded less by common interest than by the passage of time.

There is Wendy, a widowed feminist academic, whose closest

confidant is her decrepit dog Finn, Jude, a former restaurateur, who's been conducting a 40-year

affair with her married lover, and Adele, a once-aclaimed stage actress, who has just been dumped

by her girlfriend, and is in need of both money and affirmation.

When these three old friends come together, wounds reopen and memories collide, with affecting

humorous and ultimately dramatic results. The novel has already won the 2020 Australian

...