Sunday 16:00-16:30, repeated Thursday 16:00-16:30, except first Sunday in the month when it is replaced by Book Club.
Open Book spotlights new fiction and non-fiction, picks out the best of the paperbacks, talks to authors and publishers, and unearths lost masterpieces.
This week
25 January and 29 January 2009
Charles Elton, author of Mr Toppit.
Charles Elton In Charles Elton’s debut novel Mr Toppit, a series of children’s books becomes a massive success only after the author’s accidental death. Charles Elton talks to Mariella about his belated foray into fiction, and explains how it was influenced by the experience of Christopher Robin Milne, the unwilling hero of The House At Pooh Corner.
The Reading Clinic Open Book offers advice to a listener who finds herself addicted to Regency romances. Louise Doughty joins Mariella to recommend books that bridge the gap between romance and literary fiction.
Mills and Boon and rugby
The first of eight rugby-themed romantic novels published by Mills and Boon under an agreement with the Rugby Football Union has just been published. Sports writer Alyson Rudd joins Mariella to discuss whether the worlds of romantic fiction and rugby go together.
How Not To Write A Novel
A new guide for writers outlines some of the cardinal sins of the would-be novelist: the writer Sandra Newman and the literary agent Clare Alexander fill Mariella in on some of the commonest mistakes.
