The Book Show

“I admit to regular fits of feeling simply I am not a good person,” says Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, “and it’s a question that fiction is uniquely poised to engage with”. And it’s a question that is at the heart of his new novel Crossroads.Also, Maggie Shipstead on her Booker Prize shortlisted novel Great Circle, and Robert Gott’s historical crime novel, The Orchard Murders, based on the Messiah of Nunawading.

In his latest book Cloud Cuckoo Land, Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Doerr explores the human desire to create utopian worlds in places far from home.CS Pacat on their latest fantasy adventure Dark Rise, and Patricia Lockwood on being shortlisted for this years' Booker Prize for No One Is Talking About This.

British rapper, poet and writer, Akala, equates reading and writing to a form of magic. He brings this passion to the page in his debut YA novel, The Dark Lady, about pickpocket Henry, set in the time of Shakespeare's London. Also, The Overthinkers, a debut by a Sydney writing duo and Nick Earls on his heart surgery recovery as well as Empires, his most ambitious novel yet.

"My favourite memories as a kid, are watching Saturday afternoon movies," says two time Pulitzer Prize winner, Colson Whitehead, "so I gave myself permission to do a heist book and started planning." Harlem Shuffle was the result. Also, Marion Frith's timely debut Here In the After about an Australian soldier who served in Afghanistan and Charlotte McConaghy on Once There Were Wolves, about rewilding the Scottish highlands.

Actor Bryan Brown has published a debut collection of crime fuelled fiction in his 70s, it's called Sweet Jimmy. Also, Anita Heiss takes the 1852 Gundagai flood as the starting point for her novel Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Paige Clark's metaphorical ghosts in She Is Haunted.

Booker winning, Pat Barker's preoccupation with who's allowed to speak and who isn't continues with The Women of Troy, the sequel to The Silence of the Girls, her exploration of women in the Ancient Greek classics.Also, journalist Barry Divola on his music inspired road novel and Malla Nunn's Sugar Town Queens, set in post-Mandela South Africa.

Kevin Kwan is the man who introduced readers to the world of Singapore's ultra rich in his hit trilogy Crazy Rich Asians. Claire Nichols speaks to him about growing up wealthy in Singapore, his move to the US as a teen and the inspiration for his latest book Sex and Vanity.