You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.

I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.

I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,

relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.

So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,

and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you.

So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.

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Hello, today on Open Book, we dive into that limbo between laughter and loss, comedy and tragedy.

And our inspiration is Edinburgh, where not only is the Fringe Festival in full frenzy,

but the Edinburgh International Book Festival is currently in full flow,

and later we'll look at the translation of comedy to the pages of a novel

with a novelist who's written about comedy and a comedian turned novelist.

But first, plenty of sadness and a fair few laughs in Evie Wilde's latest novel, The Echoes.

When Evie's first novel, After the Fire, a still small voice was published in 2009,

it marked the arrival of an extraordinary new literary talent.

The book, set in Australia and reflecting on the legacy of violence, went on to win the

John Llewellyn-Rees Prize and a Betty Trask Award.

Fifteen years, three books and many more accolades later, Evie has written The Echoes, also

partly set in rural Australia and still partly exploring the inheritance of violence between generations.

The book opens with Max discovering somewhat matter-of-factly that he's dead.

He finds himself in the South London flat he shared with his partner Hannah,

...