Simon Mayo's Books Of The Year

Multi million selling author Lee Child gives a rather candid glimpse in to his reading and writing habits Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lee Child is a publishing phenomenon. His Jack Reacher novels have sold over 100 million copies. In his latest, Blue Moon, Reacher steps out of a bus to help a potential victim and then finds himself in the thick of a turf war between two rival gangs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author Adele Parks talks about her favourite books and writers. Including Enid Blyton, Vera Brittain, Clare Mackintosh and Muriel Spark. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adele Park's latest novel Lies Lies Lies is a Sunday Times bestseller. She has written 19 novels, selling over 3.5million copies in the UK alone. In our latest pod, Adele talks us through her writing process, the planning, the research and the champagne.In Lies Lies Lies Adele explores the darkest corners of a relationship in freefall in a mesmerising tale of marriage and secrets. After years together, the arrival of longed-for daughter Millie sealed everything in place for Simon and Matt, I mean Simon and Daisy. A happy little family of three. And so what if Simon drinks a bit too much sometimes – Daisy’s used to it, she knows he’s letting off steam. Until one night at a party things spiral horribly out of control. And that happy little family of three will never be the same again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadcaster, journalist and author George Alagiah talks us through his favourite books and authors... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 2007, George has been the presenter of the BBC News at Six and has also been the main presenter of GMT on BBC World News since its launch in 2010. A specialist on Africa and the developing world, Alagiah has interviewed, among others, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.George's debut novel is set in the post-apartheid South African land grabs. It’s a sharp and nuanced thriller with a strong female lead. Dealing with themes of political activism, xenophobia, the environment and, most importantly, what happens when events spiral out of control, it’s incredibly timely – and is also based entirely on events George saw but was unable to report on while a BBC correspondent there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The best selling author talks about her favourite books and writers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jung Chang is best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans. Published in 1991, it has sold over 15 million copies, has been translated in to 40 languages - and is one of Oprah's "Books That Defined A Generation". It is banned in China - where Jung grew up. Her new book is Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China  They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the centre of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history.Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a gripping story of love, war, intrigue, bravery, glamour and betrayal, which takes us on a sweeping journey from Canton to Hawaii to New York, from exiles’ quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan. In a group biography that is by turns intimate and epic, Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape twentieth-century China. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Egyptologist Chris Naunton talks us through his favourite writers, explorers and books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where are the tombs of Alexander the Great or Cleopatra? Both rulers were buried in Egypt, but their tombs have never been found despite years of intensive research and excavation. Yet we have tantalizing clues. Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt describes the quest for these and other great missing tombs those we know existed, but which have not yet been identified.Dr Chris Naunton is an Egyptologist and the Director of the Egypt Exploration Society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices