Joanne Harris

Simon Mayo's Books Of The Year

Ora Et Labora

Arts, Books, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 984 Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former teacher, turned bestselling novelist, Joanne Harris joins Simon and Matt to discuss her writing and her inspirations. Her latest novel is 'Broken Light', and Joanne tells us how she came up with the idea for this new book, which in her words is 'a strange and unexpected book'. We discuss the influence of Stephen King, the joy of magic and why this is an angry book. "Here comes the science bit!" A tragic incident unlocks the slumbering talents of the fifty-something Bernie Moon in this powerful tale of female ambition, ageing and taking back control from the bestselling author of Chocolat. A bold and timely novel that explores how women can feel invisible as they grow older- and what happens when they decide to take back control. Bernie Moon's ambitions and dreams have been forgotten by everyone else - including Bernie herself. At 19 she was full of promise, but now facing 50 and going through the menopause, she's a fading light. Until the murder of a woman in a local park unlocks a series of childhood memories, and with them, a talent that she has hidden all her adult life. What happens when the frustrations and power of an older woman are finally given their chance to be revealed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island?
0:04.0	Jane Gaskin did exactly that, trading in the family home to begin a new life in the tropics.
0:10.0	But she soon discovers that Paradise has its secrets.
0:14.0	I'm Alice Levine, and this is the price of Paradise,
0:18.0	the island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption, and murder. Wish you were here. Follow the price of Paradise Now, wherever
0:27.0	you listen to podcasts. Hello and welcome to another Books of the Year podcast from your friends at
0:47.5	Books of the Year. I'm Simon and he's Matt. I am yes that's that is correct and everything is going pretty well yeah and it seems to be pretty regular and we're doing it in a studio and we don't have to run your Wi-Fi. No we don't.
1:00.5	Everything's fabulous. You can get in touch with us, which we love it if you do.
1:06.8	Books of the year at Yahoo.com is an email from Bob Peaks in Ashby de la Zush.
1:12.1	Dear Books and of the year.
1:16.0	Love the pod, although I listen out of sync and often have to play catch-up so can't claim to be a
1:20.9	super fan.
1:22.1	Just recently I listened to your episode with
1:23.4	Cariad Lloyd. Fascinating as someone who is getting on a bit, Bob's words,
1:28.6	it made me really think about the end. I took Cariad's advice and actually talked to my daughter about my death
1:35.9	wishes it was a little awkward at first but I feel so much better of having
1:39.9	chatted her about again in quotes those things and I think she felt good about it too.
1:45.2	I also bought Carriad's book, which has just arrived, and I'm very keen to read more.
1:48.9	Thanks for the entertaining, informative and educational podcast. Thank you, Bob Peaks. I do think I remember when we were
1:56.0	doing that interview thinking okay well if you're just going to do one podcast and
2:01.9	more about one book about grief. This is the one to listen to, this is the one to read because
2:08.3	she has spoken to so many people and it didn't seem to be pushing a particular line or anything was just saying,
	...

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