Clare Leslie Hall on Broken Country: Awards, Achievements & Reading Recommendations
In this Christmas bonus episode of Best Book Forward, I’m delighted to welcome back Clare Leslie Hall. If you missed the previous episode with Claire you can catch up with it here... listen now
We take a look back at Broken Country at only the incredible awards and achievements but also the heartfelt response it has had from readers.
Of course, no episode of Best Book Forward would be complete without some irresistible book recommendations to add to your festive reading list. Here’s everything we discussed:
📚 Books by Clare Leslie Hall
✨ Books Mentioned
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- Heart the Lover by Lily King
- Writers & Lovers by Lily King
- The Death of Us by Abigail Dean
Boutique Book Breaks
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I really hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I loved recording it.
Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing another festive conversation in The Christmas Chapter series; catching up with another wonderful past guest.
In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review Best Book Forward, and don’t forget to tell your friends... it really helps new listeners discover the show.
See you tomorrow, and happy listening. 🎄
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Transcript
Welcome back to Best Foot Forward, the Christmas chapter.
Speaker A:Today, I'm delighted to be welcoming back the wonderful Claire Leslie hall, author of Broken country, which you may know by now is one of my top reads of the year.
Speaker A:I absolutely love this book.
Speaker A:When we last spoke back in July for our previous episode, I remember coming away with the feeling of how much these characters meant to Claire.
Speaker A:She truly loves Beth, Frank and Gabriel.
Speaker A:So today we'll find out what the reaction from readers has been like for Claire, as well as taking a look at the incredible awards and achievements of Broken Country.
Speaker A:It has been amazing to see how well this book has done.
Speaker A:And of course, we'll also be looking at what Claire's been reading and loving this year.
Speaker A:So let's get started, let's settle in and give Claire a warm welcome back to the show.
Speaker A:Claire, welcome back.
Speaker A:And thank you so much for joining me for a Christmas special.
Speaker B:Oh, it's so lovely to be here.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:I'm so excited to be chatting to you.
Speaker A:I mean, we've just been chatting for ages before we've started recording, but I'm delighted to be chatting to you again.
Speaker A:We last spoke back in July when Broken country was coming out and taking the world by storm.
Speaker A:So for any listeners who haven't picked up yet, I'm just going to hold up so you can see.
Speaker A:You've got.
Speaker A:Is that the US cover behind you?
Speaker B:That's the.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's the Barnes and Noble special edition.
Speaker B:And the US cover is the one with the sort of yellowy cover with the farmhouse on it.
Speaker A:It's beautiful.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Do you want to give listeners a little glimpse of what it's all about, in case they forget?
Speaker B:So Brecon Crunchy is really about a very passionate love triangle.
Speaker B: It takes place over the: Speaker B:And it's just.
Speaker B:It's really the story of Beth, who is a young woman who's very torn between her first love, Gabriel, who she falls in love with at 17, and her farmer, very good, devoted farmer husband, Frank.
Speaker B:And what happens when Gabriel unexpectedly returns to the village 13 years after he broke her heart, and he turns her life upside down.
Speaker B:And she's kind of.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker B:She's at a crossroads because she's reeling because Frank and Beth have lost their son.
Speaker B:So Gabriel comes along in a moment when she's just having this very sort of turbulent marriage and she's very brokenhearted.
Speaker B:And so I think this kind of pull of the past is a big part of her story.
Speaker A:Oh, it's so good.
Speaker A:I mean, I've read it twice and I could still happily go and pick it up again just listening to you.
Speaker A:It's such a great read.
Speaker A:If you haven't read it yet, put it on your Christmas wish list and just lock yourself away before Christmas, after Christmas and just enjoy.
Speaker A:It's such a great read.
Speaker A:I loved it so, so much.
Speaker A:So I'm not the only one who has absolutely loved it.
Speaker A:Readers are just falling completely in love with Broken Country.
Speaker A:I wonder what has the response been like?
Speaker A:Claire, have you had any memorable moments from readers that you'd like to share with us?
Speaker B:Oh, God, the response has been absolutely fantastic.
Speaker B:I mean, I've been to the States a few times and most recently I met loads of readers and they were so, so gorgeous.
Speaker B:And they just told me such amazing things and how much the book meant to them.
Speaker B:Because when I came out, I was out there for my actual launch.
Speaker B:But of course, the book had only just come out then, so going back and sort of finding out how much it meant to people was amazing.
Speaker B:And it's been the same here.
Speaker B:I've done a few events and recently, and people are just so, so gorgeous and they just tell you these wonderful things.
Speaker B:I guess a couple of things that have really touched me were, you know, obviously I. Yeah, I'm a mother to three children and I was very nervous about writing Beth as a grieving mother because that's not my experience.
Speaker B:It was very important to me to make that as emotionally resonant and just authentic as I could.
Speaker B:And I did that by inhabiting her pain and how I would feel.
Speaker B:And I've had a couple of mothers who've come up to me and said that they've had similar experiences to Beth and that they felt that I'd got it right.
Speaker B:And also that they felt that Frank's grief was very male.
Speaker B:So that that has meant a huge amount to me, probably more than anything else, in a way, because it was such a sort of painful topic and I wanted to make sure I could get it as right as I could.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's really interesting because, I mean, how lucky that we can only sort of imagine how awful.
Speaker A:But for people to have experienced it, to sort of.
Speaker A:To come and feel they want to talk to you and say how that's felt, that's really special.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think I've never really thought about this, Clive, when you were Saying, like, when book launches come out, nobody's read it, so we get excited.
Speaker A:But how nice to go background and chat to readers afterwards.
Speaker A:That's so lovely.
Speaker B:Amazing.
Speaker B:And I also went to Canada and.
Speaker B:Which I've never visited before and I loved it.
Speaker B:I went to Calgary and Toronto and it was just absolutely brilliant.
Speaker B:And the really amazing thing because of course, you know, normally you can't really talk about spoilers, but a lot of these events that I went to, they people had read the book and so we were able to talk a bit more freely and it was just.
Speaker B:It was just really fascinating seeing what they connected with.
Speaker B:And I mean, some people, there's definitely a feeling people.
Speaker B:Beth in the novel makes these questionable choices because sexual temptation is the heart of her story.
Speaker B:In a way, she's attracted to this man who is not her husband.
Speaker B:Some readers do not like that.
Speaker B:But for the most part, I think people have really sort of embraced Beth and the kind of journey that she goes on in the course of the novel.
Speaker B:So it's been really, really interesting to see how people found the book.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think with that.
Speaker A:I remember when I was reading it and we talked about it before, love triangles are so sort of difficult, aren't they?
Speaker A:Because you do need somebody to break trust, which then puts them in potentially being an unlikable character.
Speaker A:But with Beth, you completely understand where she's coming from and, you know, she doesn't want to hurt anyone.
Speaker A:But these two great guys.
Speaker A:Oh, it's so brilliant, isn't it?
Speaker A:I just adored Beth.
Speaker B:Oh, I'm so glad.
Speaker B:Yeah, me too.
Speaker B:Because I think she's a survivor as well, because I think, you know, her life gets knocked off course.
Speaker B:That's kind of why I put it back into the 50s.
Speaker B:It was, it was, it was originally a contemporary novel because I wanted to show how you know her, a sort of working class country girl with these great aspirations.
Speaker B:And she's just as clever as Gabriel, this landowner's son.
Speaker B:And his life just goes swimmingly and has.
Speaker B:Gets knocked off course.
Speaker B:But she picks herself up and again and again in the course of the novel.
Speaker B:And I sort of love that about her.
Speaker B:So I think she's very strong.
Speaker B:And also, I. I don't know, I like to read about flawed characters as long as they're likable in some ways.
Speaker B:And she.
Speaker B:I think she's likable as a mother.
Speaker B:I think she can be likable as a wife.
Speaker B:Although, you know, ultimately maybe she sort of.
Speaker B:She does get things very wrong.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a really interesting point about the time because I was just thinking about it when you were saying.
Speaker A:I said if it was contemporary, I guess her options open more, don't they, after, you know, losing their child.
Speaker A:Like she would have had more options of, you know, Frank and, you know, education or whatever, fulfilling her own.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Someone said to me at an event, you know, if it had been a contemporary novel, you know, you think you'd think that they would have been mess.
Speaker B:Gabriel and Beth would have been messaging each other that, you know, that it would have been more of a way of getting in touch with each other.
Speaker B:And I actually think the other thing that somebody pointed out, which is really interesting, is that that generation there was so much more self sacrifice.
Speaker B:So, you know, I think Frank is, is, is a man of, you know, huge self sacrifice.
Speaker B:And in a way, Beth is.
Speaker B:Because I, you can't, I can't imagine a modern day woman just going, hang on, I won't go to university.
Speaker B:I'll just take my lot, you know.
Speaker B:So I think that that was also quite a sort of period mood, in a way.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I'm just thinking as well, when we spoke last time, just now that you've been back out with readers, we talked about Team Frank, Team Gabriel.
Speaker A:What's, what's the.
Speaker A: Is it still sort of: Speaker A:What are your thoughts on readers?
Speaker B:It's really interesting.
Speaker B:I think it's mainly people do seem torn, which I was certainly torn when I was writing it.
Speaker B:I'd say it's.
Speaker B:It's 80, 20, really.
Speaker B:I think people are very much into Frank.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I've often felt.
Speaker B:But this is just a sweeping generalization.
Speaker B:But once when I was in New York earlier, earlier in the year, quite a lot of.
Speaker B:I met quite a lot of young readers and young publishing people and they, they were really into Gabriel.
Speaker B:And I thought, I wonder if it's an age thing.
Speaker B:And then when you're young, you know, you do maybe want the bad boy hot guy a bit more than when you're older.
Speaker B:You're like, oh, I think I need the devoted husband.
Speaker B:Thanks.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So maybe there's something to do with that.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you made it so hard because they are both, in their own way, they're both really nice guys.
Speaker A:Like, you know, she would have been perfectly happy with either of them if situations had allowed, I guess, for, for one or the other.
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:What I really wanted to do was like, you know, can you love two people at once?
Speaker B:I'm not sure you really can.
Speaker B:I think you can in different ways.
Speaker B:But I think what's complicated about those two is that they connect to different sides of who she is.
Speaker B:So they're very different from each other.
Speaker B:But, you know, Beth is bookish and romantic like Gabriel, and Beth is also sort of into the land and more down to earth and funny like Frank.
Speaker B:So I think that does make it quite hard.
Speaker A:It does.
Speaker A:Oh, it's so brilliant.
Speaker A:I loved it.
Speaker A:We're going to take a look then.
Speaker A:Claire.
Speaker A:I have to read this out because it's a bit of a list at some of your achievements for Broken Country.
Speaker A:So it has achieved New York Times bestseller status and sold over 1 million copies.
Speaker A:It's probably more now.
Speaker A:Is it?
Speaker A:I imagine it's a Reese's Book Club pick.
Speaker A: A nominee for the: Speaker A:It's selected as Audible one of Audible's best fiction of the year.
Speaker A: amed one of the best books of: Speaker A:It's been getting lots and lots of love in the Best Book Forward awards at the moment.
Speaker A:And it is currently in development for a film adaptation with hello Sunshine and probably so many other things as well, that.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah, it feels quite surreal when you put it like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's surreal.
Speaker B:Anyway, y.
Speaker A:How does it feel then?
Speaker A:So now that it's on the country, it's winning readers hearts, it's getting all these awards because I know when I spoke to you last time, the feeling I came away with was that you had really put your heart and soul.
Speaker A:I mean, it was a really big journey for you to.
Speaker A:To write Broken Country.
Speaker A:So what's it like now, looking at all of this?
Speaker B:Oh, I mean, I think I don't know if I'll ever get sort of used to it because it's.
Speaker B:It's so incredibly gratifying and it's such a thrill and it really means so much to me because one of the lovely things about social media is that on Instagram people can message you.
Speaker B:And I got so many messages, and I still do from readers just telling me how they felt and actually to bother to take the time to message an author, I think.
Speaker B:You know, I'm not sure I've ever done it, but occasionally I have.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's just so many people have messaged me and told me what they.
Speaker B:Why it meant so much to them and it's just.
Speaker B:I don't think I'll ever really get over it because it's just.
Speaker B:It's Incredible that this story that I carried in my heart has.
Speaker B:Has connected with so many people and that.
Speaker B:That they're nice enough to come back, come in and tell me what they feel.
Speaker B:I mean, that's just amazing.
Speaker A:Yeah, it is.
Speaker A:And actually, I know when it came out and I sort of posted around publication day, and then people would message me, and I did, like, a poll on whether people were Team Frank or Team Gabriel.
Speaker A:And I remember, so it was like they just could either click Frank or Gabriel.
Speaker A:People clicked on it, and then they came to my messages and told me why they loved these characters.
Speaker A:And I was like, wow, these.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously, with a lot of books, you feel that connection, but they really did seem to sort of feel they know these characters well and they want to sort of come and defend the man they were picking as well, which I thought was so interesting and just lovely that it's words on a page and it means so much to people.
Speaker B:Yeah, I absolutely feel like that.
Speaker B:I mean, I felt like that about the characters.
Speaker B:And actually, what's been really lovely, I do remember, because they were flesh and blood to me, and they still are, but I was very nervous when the final edit went off.
Speaker B:And I remember saying to my husband, oh, I'm feeling really panicky because I felt like I was going to be bereft without them.
Speaker B:And then.
Speaker B:I know that sounds crazy, but I did feel I spent four years in this tiny little office with those characters.
Speaker B:And so.
Speaker B:But what's amazing about this is the podcasts and being on tour and events.
Speaker B:You're just talking about your characters, so they.
Speaker B:If anything, they're even more present.
Speaker B:They have been this year, so that's been really nice.
Speaker A:That is amazing.
Speaker A:Um, I love that.
Speaker A:I just, like, I remember you talking about it before and how much you.
Speaker A:How much they sort of were real to you, and you thought about them all the time.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:And I do think that's why it is such a special book, because you've put so much into it.
Speaker A:I think it.
Speaker A:I mean, it's a great story, great characters, but I do think it's the love that you've put into these characters that makes you one we all adore.
Speaker A:So one of the other things that has happened, which.
Speaker A:That's incredible.
Speaker A:Broken country has been translated into 35 languages.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker B:Incredible.
Speaker A:Incredible.
Speaker A:And I love when you share on your Instagram the different covers, I always think it's so interesting how a cover can change from country to country or the title can change.
Speaker A:So have there been Any foreign translations that have been more special?
Speaker A:Any covers that you love more than the others?
Speaker A:I shouldn't say that because you're going to love them all, but are there any favorites?
Speaker B:What I really adore is when you get a cover and you just think, oh, yes, that makes so much sense for that country.
Speaker B:Korean cover is just really cool.
Speaker B:And it's got this sort of little house on an island with a sort of red roof.
Speaker B:And the Bulgarian cover is also incredible.
Speaker B: t of what you'd imagine, like: Speaker B:And there's these sort of.
Speaker B:It's very.
Speaker B:It's just an absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker B:It's like a sort of stylized painting, like a Lowry or something.
Speaker B:And it's got little.
Speaker B:These little sheep and this little couple.
Speaker B:Honestly, it's so cool.
Speaker B:Plus also I loved the finish cover, which is again, it's just a really sort of beautiful house and it's just.
Speaker B:It's just completely different.
Speaker B:So I love it when they're really, really different.
Speaker B:The Italian cover, I mean, I could go on.
Speaker B: The Italian cover is like so: Speaker B:I think they took it from a painting and it's a sort of canoodling couple in a boat on a lake.
Speaker B:It's just beautiful.
Speaker B:Oh, very atmospheric.
Speaker A:Do you know what's really funny?
Speaker A:You say, so I have a friend who's Bulgarian and she follows me on Instagram.
Speaker A:She was always like, I can't read any of those books.
Speaker A:She doesn't like to read fiction in English.
Speaker A:I can get her the Bulgarian copy.
Speaker A:We can actually read a book together.
Speaker A:So I was like, oh, that's a Christmas present.
Speaker A:How brilliant.
Speaker B:Perfect.
Speaker A:I have to have a look into that.
Speaker A:So we mentioned earlier that Broken country is in development for a movie.
Speaker A:I can't wait.
Speaker A:I just can't wait to see what they would do with it.
Speaker A:Are you able to share any news on what's happening?
Speaker A:I know these things take time.
Speaker B:Yeah, I. I haven't got anything very exciting to tell you.
Speaker B:I accept that.
Speaker B:I believe it's still all going well.
Speaker B:I know that they've got a script.
Speaker B:I think that it's.
Speaker B:I'm pretty sure they've got a script they're happy with.
Speaker B:I know it was written by these two script writers, this married couple.
Speaker B:And they're.
Speaker B:They're brilliant.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:That's all I know.
Speaker B:I hope it's going out to directors soon.
Speaker A:Soon.
Speaker B:But I. I haven't really been given any updates more than that.
Speaker B:But the only thing I. I know is that it's still looking really good.
Speaker B:So that's.
Speaker B:That's as much as you can hope for.
Speaker B:I think these things, you know, so many things can go wrong.
Speaker B:So I'm just kind of crossing fingers and touching wood that it will go ahead, because I think it would be spectacular to see it on the screen.
Speaker B:I really do.
Speaker B:I can just visualize it.
Speaker B:For me, it's always been a film in my head anyway.
Speaker B:I think partly because it's the landscape of my home.
Speaker B:So I see it and.
Speaker B:And, you know, the.
Speaker B:The village of Hempston was the village where my son went to his primary school.
Speaker B:So I see the school, I see the.
Speaker B:So a lot of it is very real for me anyway.
Speaker B:But I still.
Speaker B:I also think it would be very visual, very good as a film.
Speaker B:So I'd love to see it.
Speaker A:Yeah, me too.
Speaker A:I think it'd be amazing.
Speaker A:We were talking a little bit before we came on about sort of cast as well.
Speaker A:We sort of.
Speaker A:I've just been.
Speaker A:We're recording this.
Speaker A:What state?
Speaker A:The end of November.
Speaker A:I've just been to see Hamnet.
Speaker A:We were sort of talking about costs.
Speaker A:Have you had any other ideas of who you might like?
Speaker A:Dream casting?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, I was.
Speaker B:I still think Paul Mascar could be a really good Frank.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:It's hard.
Speaker B:I don't know, really.
Speaker B:I. I think I. I recently came around to thinking Florence Pugh would be an amazing birthday, because I really like her.
Speaker B:Or Saoirse Ronan.
Speaker B:I had originally always sort of pictured Daisy Edgar Jones in that role, but there are so many people who I think would be magnificent, to be honest.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think Jacob Lordy would be a.
Speaker B:Would be a very good Gabriel.
Speaker B:But he may be.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I hope it happens.
Speaker B:Fingers crossed.
Speaker B:Yeah, fingers crossed.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker A:That's our Christmas wish.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Let's manifest it.
Speaker A:Definitely.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I will work on that this afternoon.
Speaker A:Something else that's happened this year, then.
Speaker A:You've reissued a couple of your books and I'm furious with myself.
Speaker A:I just said to you, I had a copy of Pictures of him on my desk to hold up and I've walked around the house with it somewhere and I don't know where it's gone, but it will turn up.
Speaker A:So we've got pictures of him and days you were Mine have been reissued.
Speaker A:I'm really excited to read them both.
Speaker A:I wonder if you wanted to give listeners a little glimpse of what those are both about.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I'd love to.
Speaker B:So Pictures of him was my first published novel.
Speaker B:It was seven years in the making.
Speaker B:But that was because my last child, I started writing it when he was six weeks old.
Speaker B:And I used to put him under his baby gym and write for sort of 10 minutes.
Speaker B:And so it just took a long old time.
Speaker B:But mum to three young children.
Speaker B:Kind of thing that it's the story of.
Speaker B:It's about Catherine, a woman, and she's mute.
Speaker B:And she.
Speaker B:It opens with this woman who sort of can't speak, and she's in a kind of rebel in a nursing home being visited by her husband and her children.
Speaker B:And you know that something's traumatic has happened and that's why she's lost the power of speech, but you don't know what it is.
Speaker B:And then it kind of replays through her life and there are three timelines.
Speaker B:There's four months before.
Speaker B:And you realize that a lot of it goes back to this passionate love affair that she's had at university where something terrible went wrong and that she reconnects with this ex lover, Lucien.
Speaker B:So it's really the love story of Catherine and Lucien and her husband, Sam.
Speaker B:I guess it is a love triangle.
Speaker B:I'm getting over saying things are love triangles because I think.
Speaker B:I guess I just find I'm pulled to emotion and love triangle feels a little bit reductive somehow.
Speaker B:Even though I.
Speaker B:You know, my books do tend to have.
Speaker B:I think what it really is, is.
Speaker B:And this is the thing with pictures of him.
Speaker B:I'm really interested in nostalgia and I'm really interested in those small decisions that kind of are curveballs that end up playing out and completely changing your life.
Speaker B:I really like to look at the life not taken.
Speaker B:I don't know if you like the film La La Land, but I'm a fanatic.
Speaker B:I love La La Land and I love that parallel live sequence at the end of it when all the way she.
Speaker B:All the life she could have had with Ryan Gosling.
Speaker B:I think that's kind of what I'm drawn to.
Speaker B:So that's a lot of what the theme of pictures of him is, is nostalgia, I think, and the Path Not Taken.
Speaker B:And then Daisy and Mine is probably the most personal novel that I've ever written because it's the story of an adopted.
Speaker B:A young adopted man who has his own baby.
Speaker B:And it.
Speaker B:And it triggers him to find his birth mother and he reconnects with his birth mother.
Speaker B:And of course it does go wrong.
Speaker B: y passionate story set in the: Speaker B:I sort of think of it as Being like a British Daisy Jones because it's between Alice, who's a young art student and Jake who's the singer of a sort of a rock band and sort of kind of Pink Floyd esque rock band.
Speaker B:And it's just this very, very, very passionate love story and it's about identity, it's about the quest for identity particularly it's about the sort of wound of being given away at birth.
Speaker B:And you know, why that actually stays within you even if you, you know, you were a baby?
Speaker B:Because I did quite a lot of research into that.
Speaker B:So it's, it's about adoption and it's about mother, motherhood and it's, it's, it was.
Speaker B:The reason I wrote it was because my husband John found his birth mother Francis and that gave me the idea.
Speaker B:And so in a way it's kind of, I mean that's it, that's all it was.
Speaker B:You know, it's actually, you know, it's completely fictional story but it, it was triggered by a real life event.
Speaker A:They both sound amazing.
Speaker A:I'm going to try and read pictures of him before, if I can find it before the end of the year.
Speaker A:That's my, my goal.
Speaker A:I have to go and look in the washing basket or something crazy like that.
Speaker A:Do you know, I just, I'm so amazed.
Speaker A:Are you writing with a, a brand new baby?
Speaker A:I mean, I just, I struggle doing like an online shop or brushing my.
Speaker B:Hair but it had been a long old, long old running.
Speaker B:I'd had an agent at that point with a book and then it didn't sell and I'd lost an agent and I just always was so desperate to have a career as a novelist and.
Speaker B:But I remember it being tough and John used to take the kids off to his mum's house and that thing was.
Speaker B:I remember feeling so conflicted because I'd get this weekend and it was like that's really how that book got written.
Speaker B:And then he'd send me these amazing photos of my daughter and my, all my, you know, my son playing in a stream and I'd be like, oh no, what am I doing?
Speaker B:It's very hard to do all those things, isn't it, when you, when you've got a young family.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:But then I guess for you as well, it's like those stories are desperate to come out as well.
Speaker A:Like, you know, it sounds like, I mean, I, I just think that's amazing.
Speaker A:Particularly like the interruptions must be really hard.
Speaker A:Like you're saying, if he's in his bouncer and things like sort of sitting down to write and then like my.
Speaker A:I don't know that my brain would cope with like sort of chopping and changing back in.
Speaker A:But that's.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you know what I mean.
Speaker B:I'm finding it more than ever now because I'm trying to write a new book and I am writing a new book, but I'm finding the interruptions.
Speaker B:Even now my children are basically.
Speaker B:They are grown up, but there still seems to be a lot going on at home.
Speaker B:And I think what I had before, because I wrote Broken country out of contract, was this, in a way, the privilege of having four years of no deadlines.
Speaker B:And it was incredible.
Speaker B:And I could.
Speaker B:I could just lock myself away and.
Speaker B:But somehow now, because there's, you know, there's a lot of promotion with Broken country, which is wonderful.
Speaker B:And then I went on tour.
Speaker B:Tour and you know, doing events, it's.
Speaker B:I'm finding it a little bit hard to get what I. I feel I need in terms of headspace.
Speaker B:But maybe I just have to get used to the fact that life will be a bit more busy going forwards.
Speaker A:I guess if you're sort of doing Broken country promotion and then sort of having to come back and get into whatever new world it is, it's that sort of leave those there, come back and sort of reenter.
Speaker A:It was quite hard.
Speaker A:I mean, do you.
Speaker A:Are you able to tell us a little bit about what you're working on?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, no, I am.
Speaker B:And that's exactly what it is.
Speaker B:It is hard for me.
Speaker B:It's very hard.
Speaker B:I feel like I'd like to sort of have a really long free period of time to get into the headspace the story is.
Speaker B:It's basically.
Speaker B:It's probably going to be in the 60s, although I'm questioning, thinking.
Speaker B:Did you watch Trespasses?
Speaker B:Have you watched that?
Speaker A:Not yet.
Speaker A:I've read the book, but I haven't watched it yet.
Speaker B:The adaptation is amazing.
Speaker B:It's so faithful to the book and it made me feel.
Speaker B:Oh, it's.
Speaker B:I love looking at the 70s.
Speaker B:So anyway, it's a period novel again.
Speaker B:It's about a family, quite a sort of eccentric family who live in a cliff top hotel in Dorset.
Speaker B:And there are two daughters and one of them is a young widow.
Speaker B:And they are famous for this big pagan sort of midsummer celebration that they hold every year at the hotel.
Speaker B:And one year this composer comes to draw inspiration from this midsummer festival and they unwittingly.
Speaker B:And he, it turns out, is a widow with a young teenage daughter and they fall in love against their expectations.
Speaker B:So that's kind of one strand is, you know, will they get together?
Speaker B:You know, will that relationship work out?
Speaker B:And then the other strand is told by her dead husband who drowned at midsummer four years before.
Speaker B:And that's the sort of past timeline.
Speaker B:And there's a big sort of mystery thread which I'm working on at the moment.
Speaker B:There's a missing girl at the start of the novel, you know, that somebody has disappeared from the village.
Speaker B:So that's where I am.
Speaker B:And I'm quite excited by it, I have to say.
Speaker B:I really like the characters.
Speaker B:I really love the setting.
Speaker B:I just need to write it.
Speaker A:Oh, that sounds amazing.
Speaker A:It sounds amazing.
Speaker A:I can't wait.
Speaker A:And I love that because, I mean, Broken country obviously had the sort of, you know, there was the romance, there's a bit of a mystery and there's a trial as well.
Speaker A:So so much to sort of just completely get totally absorbed in.
Speaker A:I can't wait.
Speaker A:I can't wait.
Speaker A:I'm gonna lock you in there.
Speaker A:Send your family to me.
Speaker A:I'll do.
Speaker A:I'll deal with it with them so you can write.
Speaker B:I keep saying to John, I'm gonna have to move out of this family.
Speaker B:I'm just gonna have to move out anyway.
Speaker A:Bless them.
Speaker A:When is that?
Speaker A:So you're writing it now?
Speaker A: Would that be like sort of: Speaker A:Is that the sort of.
Speaker B:Yeah, I would.
Speaker B:Thought so, yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm gonna pace out these other two, then.
Speaker A:I'll read this one by the end of the year and I'll do the other one mid, so.
Speaker A:But I've always got a bit of your book in my life.
Speaker B:Oh, I love it.
Speaker A:And actually, I do want to go back and listen to the audiobook of Broken country as well.
Speaker B:She's incredible.
Speaker B:She is amazing.
Speaker B:I can't.
Speaker B:I can't get over how lucky I was that they.
Speaker B:They got Hattie because she's just.
Speaker B:Oh, amazing.
Speaker A:When I saw on your Instagram about it being nominated on order, like, oh, I have to go back and listen to it because, yeah, lots, lots to keep me going.
Speaker A:Before we look back at Claire's book choices, I wanted to tell you about a book break I went on recently and absolutely loved.
Speaker A:I spent the day on a boutique book breaks weekend and honestly, it was the perfect escape.
Speaker A:I didn't want to leave.
Speaker A:Petite book breaks, organise weekend retreats at beautiful hotels around the UK.
Speaker A: ext one is happening in March: Speaker A:Whether you're traveling alone or with a friend, you can expect to find a group of like minded women, your new book friends, enjoying a luxurious setting, author talks, spa treats, delicious meals, country walks, cosy nooks and the private reading lounges where you can curl up your book and fully unwind.
Speaker A:I mean, what could be better?
Speaker A:I was only there for a day and I felt like I'd found bookish heaven.
Speaker A:So if this sounds like your cup of tea, I've got some great news.
Speaker A:Emma from Boutique Book Breaks has very kindly offered Best Book Forward listeners a 50 pound discount on your stay.
Speaker A:Simply use the code BESTBOOK and you'll find all the details in the show notes below.
Speaker A:Okay, so when we spoke last time, you picked the five books that you felt had shaped your life.
Speaker A:We're going to have a little look back at those and see whether, I mean, it wasn't that long ago since we spoke, but whether they still sort of stand for you.
Speaker A:So we had I Captured the Castle by Jodie Smith, Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively.
Speaker A:Is that the right name?
Speaker A:Lively?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So my favorite, all the Pretty horses by Cormac McCarthy, the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the go between by L.P. hartley, which I keep confusing with J.P. hartley during the Yellow Pages.
Speaker B:Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean.
Speaker B:Same.
Speaker A:It's gone into my head.
Speaker A:Younger listeners will be like, the what?
Speaker A:The Yellow Pages.
Speaker B:I love that ad.
Speaker A:So good.
Speaker A:Wasn't it?
Speaker B:So good?
Speaker B:Well, do you know what?
Speaker B:They do all stand, but I have made a decision which is I'm swapping out the Go between for atonement by Ian McEwan because I thought I love the Go between, but actually would I keep rereading it?
Speaker B:Whereas I would keep rereading Atonement because I think it has, it has so many different things.
Speaker B:You know, it has first love in it, it has war time experience in it and it's got that whole sort of meta fiction, I think.
Speaker B:And it's got the killer twist, I feel.
Speaker B:It's got so many, it's got so much depth that I.
Speaker B:It's a book I would reread and do reread.
Speaker B:So I'm going to swap that one out.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:How about I give you that one as an extra for Christmas?
Speaker B:Oh, that's perfect.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:It doesn't have to sit there and cry now.
Speaker A:Being swapped out.
Speaker A:You're still there.
Speaker A:Atonement's one of the books I want to go back and reread, actually.
Speaker A:I often think about It.
Speaker A:And I was like.
Speaker A:And I think I've left it long enough now where I could read it again and sort of.
Speaker A:I mean, I've got such a terrible memory anyway.
Speaker A:I do quite often read books and forget, but I think it'd be a good time for me to.
Speaker A:To get back into that one.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's a most gorgeous read.
Speaker B:I also happen to watch the film a lot.
Speaker B:Do you?
Speaker A:Oh, do you?
Speaker A:I've only seen it.
Speaker A:That's the Keira Knightley one with the green dress.
Speaker A:Yeah, I've only seen it once, so.
Speaker B:No, it's one of my comfort watches.
Speaker B:I watch it a lot.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, well, I'll go and pick that one up.
Speaker A:So, Claire, I know you read loads and you are just.
Speaker A:You love your books as well.
Speaker A:So what have you been reading this year?
Speaker A:Do you have any standout reads that you'd like to recommend to us?
Speaker B:Yes, look, it's right here, actually.
Speaker B:Have you read this?
Speaker A:Oh, yes.
Speaker A:Second time it's come up, actually.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Heart the Lover.
Speaker B:I mean, and I have a tip here because I read Heart the Lover.
Speaker B:I, I, it came out, I think, a little bit.
Speaker B:I happened to be in the States.
Speaker B:I think it hadn't come out in the UK yet, and I rushed to Barnes and Nobles and I bought it.
Speaker B:And I was.
Speaker B:I was flying from New York to San Diego and I was like, right, I'm gonna.
Speaker B:I'm gonna ration myself.
Speaker B:Anyway, I did not look up on that plane journey, and I, I finished it as we touched down, and then I started rereading it.
Speaker B:That is the sign of a book that means so much to me.
Speaker B:But somebody told me, and I hadn't picked up on this, that Writers and Lovers, her novel of a few years before, which I had read, is, in a way, it's linked.
Speaker B:She's the same character and it's a different period of her life.
Speaker B:So I've just reread that on my Kindle because it was there.
Speaker B:And, yeah, you can see she's Casey.
Speaker B:She is the same.
Speaker B:She's the same character, which I had no idea when I was reading Writers and Heart.
Speaker B:Lover.
Speaker A:That's so interesting.
Speaker A:Katherine Newman, who's also on this series, she said to me about Heart the Lover, and I picked it up, but she.
Speaker A:I didn't read Writers and Lovers, so I'm gonna have to go back.
Speaker A:Yeah, I loved her.
Speaker B:I love her writing.
Speaker B:And she writes so much about writing as well, of course, which is fascinating.
Speaker B:And, yeah, she's.
Speaker B:She's absolutely brilliant.
Speaker B:And Then another one, which again, if I've read it twice, that's pretty much my do or die and that is the Death of Us by Abigail Dean.
Speaker B:Have you read that?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Telling me.
Speaker A:I would love Abigail Dean.
Speaker B:It's very beautiful.
Speaker B:The premises, you know, will sound grim, but it isn't really.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's about a house intruder and a serial killer who gets caught at the age of 70 and it's about the couples whose lives he's ruined who are going to testify in the court case.
Speaker B:But interspersed with that is this beautifully told a marriage over 25 years.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's a love story really.
Speaker B:And it's just, it's so.
Speaker B:The writing is magnificent.
Speaker B:Absolutely brilliant.
Speaker A:I think it's actually.
Speaker A:I know it's on one of the long lists for the awards I'm doing at the moment, so.
Speaker A:But somebody was just telling me about it the other day, so I'm going to go and treat myself to that for a little Christmas read.
Speaker A:Okay, so we're going to just dive into some Christmasy questions then before we head off.
Speaker A:So you're going to be popping around to see Beth for a pre Christmas catch up.
Speaker A:What gift would you bring her?
Speaker A:What do you think she'd be wanting for Christmas?
Speaker B:Well, I think I'm going to give her a fake fur hot water bottle and some cashmere bed socks because I'm.
Speaker B:That farmhouse is very, very chilly.
Speaker B:Not unlike this farmhouse.
Speaker B:I think that's what, that's what she needs for those cold winter nights.
Speaker A:And that's such a lovely gift because it's not something you would buy yourself, is it?
Speaker A:Because it feels like, particularly Beth, I can't see her going off and buying her cashmere socks.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:But that's such a.
Speaker B:No, I don't think she would, but.
Speaker A:I'm sure she'd enjoy them.
Speaker A:So clearly you also love your movies.
Speaker A:And we're all very excitedly waiting to see what happened with Broken Country.
Speaker A:Clare, what in your opinion is the best Christmas movie of all time?
Speaker B:It's a really tough one and I am torn between love actually in the holiday which our family, we're so ritualistic about it.
Speaker B:Ash.
Speaker B:I'll go with love actually.
Speaker B:And I'll tell you why.
Speaker B:Because we always say we'll watch it together.
Speaker B:My son now lives in London and someone always breaks and they always go whoops, sorry.
Speaker B:And we pose to each other.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna go with love, actually.
Speaker B:I just adore it.
Speaker B:I know it almost line by line.
Speaker B:I love the music and it's just.
Speaker B:I don't know, I just get so swept up in the story.
Speaker B:I just adore it.
Speaker B:It's the kind of thing I find this with Richard Curtis anyway.
Speaker B:Even though sometimes his humor can be a little bit.
Speaker B:Kind of almost too on the nose and a bit clunky.
Speaker B:The more I watch a Richard Curtis movie, the more I love it.
Speaker B:There's something about it.
Speaker B:It's like those sort of crisps that you can't stop eating.
Speaker B:There's something about Richard Curtis that more means I want more.
Speaker B:I don't know what it is.
Speaker B:He's moreish.
Speaker B:That's so.
Speaker A:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker A:I mean, I love.
Speaker A:Love, actually, as well, because it's like.
Speaker A:It makes you laugh.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:Makes you a bit.
Speaker A:Bit sad as well.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker B:I love Colin Firth's romance, you know.
Speaker B:It's so great, isn't it?
Speaker A:And Hugh Grant.
Speaker B:And I love Hugh Grant.
Speaker B:I mean, I love you.
Speaker B:Who doesn't love Hugh Grant?
Speaker B:I mean, Hugh Grant is hilarious.
Speaker B:I love him.
Speaker A:But mind you, my husband just watched his new movie the other day, this scary one.
Speaker A:I had to go upstairs because he was really scaring me.
Speaker B:Have you seen it?
Speaker A:It's heathen.
Speaker A:Is it heathen?
Speaker B:Oh, it's not heathen.
Speaker B:Do you mean the one with the two girls?
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:It's called something different.
Speaker B:Anyway, I've watched it.
Speaker B:It's brilliant because it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's kind of dark.
Speaker B:My son loves horror, so we.
Speaker B:I do watch a bit of horror with him, but it's so brilliant because Hugh Grant plays Hugh Grant.
Speaker B:He's just kind of really comic and funny and wry and then really sinister.
Speaker B:And it's just such a brilliant device that he kind of almost plays the Hugh Grant that, you know.
Speaker B:It's so good.
Speaker A:I had to terrify.
Speaker B:It is terrifying.
Speaker A:Freaking me out.
Speaker A:I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker A:I'll have nightmares for him.
Speaker A:Yeah, he is brilliant.
Speaker A:And Oompa Loompa and everything.
Speaker A:Gotta love him.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, I know.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:Yeah, he.
Speaker A:That was a really random tangent to end on.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:That was me.
Speaker B:That's fine.
Speaker B:I love those random tangents.
Speaker A:And I loved chatting to you again, Claire, thank you so much for coming back.
Speaker A:It's been lovely.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me on.
Speaker A:I know I say this all the time, but I loved that conversation.
Speaker A:I could have chatted to Claire all day.
Speaker A:She is so lovely and so interesting.
Speaker A:And hearing her talk about Broken country again just made me want to go and pick up it up and read it for the third time.
Speaker A:Maybe I will dive into that audiobook if you haven't read it yet.
Speaker A:You are really missing out on fantastic read so do grab a copy and I am sure it will win your heart as well.
Speaker A:All of the books that we've talked about today are listed in the show notes below so do check those out as well as details of the boutique book break which I mentioned earlier on.
Speaker A:I really hope that you're enjoying this special Christmas season as much as as I've enjoyed making it.
Speaker A:If you are enjoying the show I would be so grateful if you could take the time to rate, review, subscribe and tell your friends about it.
Speaker A:It makes a huge difference to the show and it would also make my Christmas wishes come true.
Speaker A:I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas Chapter special and I really hope that you'll join me for that episode too.
Speaker A:See you soon and thanks for listening.
