Kate and Cassie discuss Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart’s new novel about a ten-year-old Korean-American girl growing up in a dystopian United States. Alongside guest critics, they also look at The Bombshell by Darrow Farr, which traces the radicalisation of a young French woman in Corsica, and The Slip by Lucas Schaefer, the story of a missing teenage boy and the transformative power of boxing.

Books:

Darrow Farr, The Bombshell, Atlantic

Lucas Schaefer, The Slip, Simon & Schuster

Gary Shteyngart, Vera, or Faith, Atlantic

GUESTS

Sarah Gilbert, writer and documentary producer; head of UTS Impact Studios, which makes the literary podcast Fully Lit. Her first book of non-fiction - Unconventional Women: The story of the last Blessed Sacrament Sisters in Australia - came out last year

Michael Winkler, critic and novelist. His book, Grimmish, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2022. His novel Griefdogg will be published next year

OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED

Brian Castro, Chinese Postman
Michelle de Krestser, works
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Denis Johnson, Train Dreams
Carys Davies, West
Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend
O. Henry, The Last Leaf
Loïc Wacquant, Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer
Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City series
Rhett Davis, Arborescence
Raaza Jamshed, What Kept You
Alexis Wright, Carpentaria

CREDITS

Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
Sound engineer, John Jacobs and Tegan Nicholls
Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

AI in America, a kidnapping in Corsica, the transformative power of boxing: books by Gary Shteyngart, Darrow Farr, and Lucas Schaefer