In this episode Laura’s book club are reading The Trouble With Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon.
The novel is set in 1970s England, during an unusually long heatwave. In an ordinary suburban neighbourhood a woman goes missing. For two ten-year-old girls, Grace and Tilly, searching for God is a way to find her and bring her home. As they investigate they start to uncover the messy details of private lives, the connections between their neighbours and the events of a long-forgotten day that may hold the key to the mystery.
An understated, quirky debut that proved popular with critics and readers, but did Laura’s book club agree? Listen in to find out.
Since 2012, Emily has been running her successful Walking Book Club on Hampstead Heath, a wild park of woodland and meadows, not far from central London. We met up on a windy day and Emily told us more about the joys of walking and talking about books.
Book recommendations
- The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
- If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
- Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
- Breakfast with the Nikolides by Rumer Godden
- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.
Books mentioned by Emily:
- The True-Deceiver by Tove Jansson
- West with the Night by Beryl Markham
- Westwood by Stella Gibbons
- All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
- The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
- As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee
- Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
- Brodeck’s Report by Philippe Claudel
Notes
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