Fiona Mozley, Jane Smiley, American working class novels with Jess Walter and Kristin Hannah

Available for over a year

Elizabeth Day talks to Fiona Mozley about her second novel, Hot Stew. An expansive portrait of Soho which includes property millionaires, reformed hard men and sex workers fighting gentrification, she tells Open Book about her fascination with Medieval history, ownership and depicting collective struggle. Jess Walter and Kristin Hannah discuss why there is renewed interest Stateside in fiction that explores unions, strikes and workers' resistance. They explain why it is a perfect time to mine the USA's working class history, and how personal stories are at their heart their latest novels The Cold Millions and The Four Winds, both set in the early 20th century. Plus, A Book I'd Never Lend from Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer-prizing winning author of A Thousand Acres and most recently The Strays of Paris. Book List – Sunday 21 March and Thursday 25 March Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley Elmet by Fiona Mozley The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos The Cold Millions by Jess Walter The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley The Strays of Paris by Jane Smiley Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rølvaag