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The Book Show

In a Jane Austen novel, what does it mean if a character is in the Navy? What role do aunts and silly characters play? And what's the significance of the lavish balls? 

Irish author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín, has the answers and shares some "rules" for reading Austen including her most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. 

This is the second episode in The Book Show's Dear Jane series which is a celebration of Austen's enduring legacy 250 years after her birth.

02 | Dear Jane — the perfectly plotted Pride and Prejudice

We're celebrating Jane Austen's 250th birthday with Dear Jane, a brand-new series about her life, her books and her legacy. 

In the first instalment, Roller Derby Austen fanatic and academic Devoney Looser busts some myths and explains why she believes Jane Austen was wild, not mild.

Devoney's new book is Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane.

01 | Dear Jane — the wild, not mild, Jane Austen

The British-Hungarian author David Szalay restrained novel Flesh has won the 2025 Booker Prize. 

The prize was presented to Szalay by Samantha Harvey, winner of the previous year's prize. 

Flesh follows the dramatic life of István from his teens in Hungary to being a social climber in England to a somewhat dejected middle-age.

Szalay says that while the book was a risk to write he enjoyed the process. It's obviously paid off as he receives £50,000 for the win and will likely see a big increase in sales of his book.

Pod extra: David Szalay wins the Booker Prize

Patricia Lockwood's latest book is the third exploring her inner state, just don't call it a trilogy. A call to all Jane Austen lovers with the beginning of our new series Dear Jane, and Markus Zusak on the wonder of books.

Chronically online American author Patricia Lockwood blurs the lines between fiction and memoir in her latest book, Will There Ever Be Another You. Patricia is best known for her memoir Priest Daddy and the Booker Prize shortlisted novel, No One is Talking About This. Her new book is inspired by her own experience of long COVID and what it did to her mind. She tells Claire Nichols about over-ordering at the Wendy's franchise, the connections between her three books and feeling well again.

We're celebrating Jane Austen's 250th birthday with Dear Jane, a brand-new series about her life, her books, her legacy, and why authors are still inspired by her novels. In the first instalment, Roller Derby Austen fanatic and academic Devoney Looser busts some myths and explains why she believes Jane Austen was wild, not mild. Devoney's new book is Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was voted in at second place in our recent Top 100 Books countdown. This year also marks 20 years since this beloved book was published. It's about Leisel, a feisty German girl who finds power in stealing books and was inspired by Markus's parents' experiences in Europe during World War Two. It's a novel of big ideas and huge creative risks including Death as the narrator. Claire spoke to Markus for The Book Show's series My Biggest Book.

Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown.

Download a printable list of the Top 100 Books.

Patricia Lockwood on Dolly the sheep and long covid

Become a Booker Prize expert and meet the shortlisted authors before the winner is announced in a ceremony featuring classic British pomp and fanfare.

These are the shortlisted books:

 • Flashlight by Susan Choi
 • The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
 • The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
 • Audition by Katie Kitamura
 • Flesh by David Szalay
 • The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits.

The Booker Prize is arguably the most prestigious literary prize in the English-speaking world, the winning author receives £50,000, while the shortlisted authors all receive £2,500. Importantly, the winner makes history and joins literary alumni including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and Peter Carey and can expect a sharp rise in sales.

The winner is announced 10 November.

Another book extravaganza that has everyone talking is the Top 100 Books countdown. Listen again to the highlights here. 

Download a printable copy of the Top 100 Books list here.

Who will win the Booker Prize?

The American elegy, Dream State by American author Eric Puchner is one of Claire's favourite books of the year, Australian crime novelist Jane Harper explores grief and loss in Last One Out , and we revisit Paul Murray's The Bee Sting which made it into the Top 100 Books countdown.

Set under the vast Montana sky, American author Eric Puchner traverses time, changing landscapes and the sometimes grim consequences of both small and large deeds in his latest novel. Dream State begins as a love triangle and sweeps across generations, encompassing many themes; from grief, guilt, long term love, male bonds, climate change, skiing and so much more, including a glimpse at a wolverine.

Since the publication of the The Dry almost ten years ago, Jane Harper has become a household name in crime fiction. Her latest is a standalone novel set in a rural New South Wales town that's been overtaken by a mine, forcing many people to leave and resentment to brew. She tells Sarah L'Estrange Last One Out is about Ro, who's returned to the town for her son's memorial and she's still trying to understand what led to his disappearance five years ago. 

And as a special treat we revisit a conversation with the Irish writer, Paul Murray about his book The Bee Sting. A contemporary family story, it came in at number 71 in the Top 100 Books of the 21st century. It begins with a disaster as a bride is on her way to the church.

Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown.

Download a printable list of the Top 100 Books.

An American elegy with Eric Puchner and Jane Harper on grief and the disappeared

The Top 100 Books of the 21st Century countdown is complete and now it's time to find out the inspiration behind some of Australia's favourite books with the authors: Trent Dalton, Hannah Kent and Barbara Kingsolver.

Trent Dalton's debut novel Boy Swallows Universe was voted in as your number one read of the 21st century. A coming of age story, it follows the young boy, Eli Bell, who has a missing dad, a silent brother, a drug addicted mother and a notorious criminal for a babysitter. The novel is made all the more remarkable for how closely it's based on Trent Dalton's own life growing up on the Brisbane fringe. Trent shares his recollections of writing the book with Claire Nichols and what it means to be voted number one in the Top 100 Books. 

American writer Barbara Kingsolver's novel Demon Copperhead is a modern day retelling of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Women's Prize for Fiction and now, it came out at number eight in the Top 100 Books countdown. Demon Copperhead is about Damon, known as Demon, who is just 12 when we meet him living a hard-scrabble life in Appalachia, USA. Barbara Kingsolver also calls this area home and in 2022, she told Claire Nichols about wanting to write a book about a new generation of lost boys highlighting issues of poverty, foster care and the opioid crisis in America.

Another debut novel to crack the top ten was Burial Rights by the Australian writer Hannah Kent which was voted in at number six. This novel fictionalises the life of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman to be executed in Iceland. It was inspired by Hannah Kent's own time in Iceland which she's documented in a new memoir called Always Home, Always Homesick.

Download a printable list of the Top 100 Books.

Listen to the Top 100 Books countdown.

Celebrating Australia's favourite reads with Trent Dalton, Hannah Kent and Barbara Kingsolver

Heather Rose found writing her latest novel challenging because it's partly based on some murky family secrets. The author of The Museum of Modern Love and Bruny Island among other award winning novels, has now written A Great Act of Love: an historical saga of murder, migration, transformation and enduring familial bonds. It has a surprising effervescent setting; making French style champagne in colonial Tasmania. 

Poet, visual artist, hip-hop musician and author Omar Musa finds magic in Italian beads, vengeful ghosts and the sound of the Borneo forest in his second novel. Fierceland exposes the dark side of Malay politics and trade in palm oil, but is also a story of family and love.

Australian author Natalia Figueroa Barroso also draws on family and culture in her debut novel Hailstones Fell Without Rain. From single migrant mothers making a life in Western Sydney to women surviving and resisting political oppression in Uruguay, it's a multigenerational celebration of strength and renewal.

Heather Rose, Omar Musa and Natalia Figueroa Barroso on champagne, ghosts and the disappeared

It's 25 years since True History of the Kelly Gang came out and while Peter Carey might not be writing fiction anymore he says he's proud of his books. My Sister, The Serial Killer's Oyinkan Braithwaite on not writing the same book twice in Cursed Daughters and Tanya Scott's debut thriller, Stillwater. 

When it comes to Australia's great novelists, few loom larger than Peter Carey. He's won the Booker Prize twice, and the Miles Franklin Award three times and is beloved for books like Oscar and Lucinda, Illywhacker, Jack Maggs and A Long Way from Home. But at the age of 82, he says he's done with writing fiction. Instead, we're celebrating 25 years since the publication True History of The Kelly Gang which won the Booker in 2001.

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a Nigerian-British author who made a big splash with her first novel, My Sister, The Serial Killer which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Women's Prize and won the Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Her second novel, Cursed Daughters, is about three generations of Nigerian women and the family curse that dominates their lives.

Stillwater is the debut thriller by Tanya Scott, a GP working in the mental health sector in regional Victoria. It's about Luke, a young man trying to escape his past when a run in with an old associate drags him back into a world of violence and crime.

Peter Carey on not writing fiction anymore

The Yolnu people of the Northern Territory had a fruitful trading relationship with the Makassar people from Indonesia long before Australia was colonised. Yolnu people would even visit Makassar, some never returned.

In A Piece of Red Cloth, Arnhem Land writer Leonie Norrington, who has collaborated with three elders from the region, including Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, evokes some of the stories told about the relationships formed and cultural exchanges. But there are tensions. Some Yolnu people are suspicious of the intentions of the Makassar traders, alcohol is free-flowing and Yolnu women are particularly vulnerable.

When Makassar and Yolnu peoples met, a long history told in A Piece of Red Cloth

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