Rumaan Alam and Tessa Hadley

Book Off!

Two brilliant authors and humans, Rumaan Alam and Tessa Hadley, go head to head in a war of the words.

They talk about the joy of writing about clothes, how money can drive you mad and how some cities are easier to fictionalise than others.

As well as discussing their new novels, their writing styles and processes and the difference between writing short stories, novels and novellas, they also give us some great book recommendations.

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam is a novel about an ambitious young Black woman, plotting her way into the world of the one percent, and an old white billionaire, facing his own extinction. He's attracted to her intelligence, her refusal to be deferential, maybe also her Blackness, whilst she's drawn to his power and money – and his apparent willingness to share both with her. But how far is each prepared to go to get what they think they deserve?

The Party by Tessa Hadley is a novella set in post-war Bristol. Sisters Moira and Evelyn are on the cusp of adulthood who meet two men at a dockside party. Paul and Sinden's air of worldliness and sophistication both intrigues and repels them. Sinden calls a few days later to invite them over to the grand suburban mansion Paul shares with his brother and sister. As the night unfolds in this unfamiliar, glamorous new setting, the sisters learn things about themselves and each other that shock them, and release them into a new phase of their lives.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Book Off! If you did, please do leave us a review...

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