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.

BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.

Hello, today on Open Book, an estranged father attempts to reconnect with his daughter,

and a new initiative tries to connect readers with books, more on book banks and what their

existence means for the country's struggling libraries later on.

But first to that fraught familial relationship, US author Gauthors Colberg, was named one of Granta's best young American novelists.

His latest book, the first in nine years since the widely acclaimed city on fire is about Ethan, a recovering addict,

who sets out to bond with his troubled teenage daughter Jolie after questions are raised about her

mental health when she clambers down onto a subway track. And so Ethan steps back into her life,

conscious of his own dysfunction, but also feeling that maybe he might be the only one that can therefore

save her. The second coming is a sprawling 600-page epic that moves us through space and time,

from 90s surfer communities to occupy Wall Street protests, New York in the wake of 9-11,

and even into COVID, in a moving and at times challenging novel

about intergenerational trauma and perhaps also intergenerational healing. And I'm pleased to say

that Garthris Colberg joins me on the line now from New Jersey. Garth, thank you for joining

us on Open Book. I wanted to begin by asking about Jolie, who's this daughter, 13-year-old,

...