Maria Balshaw and Léa Ypi

A Good Read

BBC

Arts, Books

4.2 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week's books are: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler chosen by Maria Balshaw. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol (translated by Isabel Hapgood) chosen by Léa Ypi. Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans chosen by Harriett Gilbert.

The producer is Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol. Join us over on Instagram @agoodreadbbc

Photo credit: Erdem Moralioglu

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:07.2	Things just swirling around my head.
0:09.6	Am I really the product of this?
0:12.1	Astonishing secrets uncovered by at-home DNA tests.
0:17.0	Little did I know what more was to come.
0:19.5	I'm Jenny Clemen, and in the new series of The Gift,
0:23.6	we'll hear more stories emerging out of the ever-expanding global DNA database.
0:28.8	They did know that I was different.
0:31.7	You had kids together.
0:33.0	Yeah.
0:33.5	Then you met.
0:34.3	Then we met.
0:35.2	The Gift.
0:36.1	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:39.7	Hello, if you're wondering what to read next, come on in.
0:43.4	We've got a few suggestions.
0:45.1	We being first, Maria Balshaw,
0:47.4	director of Tate Art Museums and Galleries since 2017,
0:51.1	and author of five books.
0:52.7	Most recently, Gathering of Strangers, Why Museums Matter.
0:57.7	With Maria is the Ralph Miliban Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the London School of
1:02.2	Economics, Leia IEP. Born in Albania, Leia's books include the memoir, Free Coming of Age
	...

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