Chiltern Voice Book Club

Robin joins Antonia to talk about his dark, compelling second novel The Guest House, written in lockdown with a new baby. Along the way we talk representation, diversity, becoming the person you want to be and being the person you wish your child-self had been able to see - and musical theatre. Of course.

I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Whitney Houston
Gimme Gimme Gimme - ABBA
Bills Bills Bills - Destiny's Child
Hold On - Adele
So Sorry - Lola Young
We Don't Talk about Bruno from Encanto
Ex Wives - from Six the Musical
Say You'll Be There - Spice Girls
I Try - Macy Gray
I will Follow Him - from the Sister Act soundtrack
I'm Here - Cynthia Erivo, from The Color Purple soundtrack
Good as Hell - Lizzo

Sarra joins Antonia to celebrate her latest novel, the warm, immersive and wonderful London, With Love. The Sarra Manning line takes us on a trip through Sarra’s prolific and enduring writing career, with stops at Just Seventeen, London before Crossrail, Noel Streatfeild, music, dogs, selecting great reads for Red Magazine and so many more. A joy.

Jennifer She Said - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Girl VII - St Etienne
West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
Wrapped Up In Books - Belle and Sebastian
Moving On Up - Primal Scream
Liza Minelli - Losing My Mind
Bar Italia - Pulp
Perfect Day - Lou Reed
Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken
Tonight the Streets are Ours - Richard Hawley

Julie joins Antonia to talk about her beautiful debut novel, That Green Eyed Girl, about New York in the 1950s, about writing dreams and process and heartbreak - and answers openly and honestly the perennial question, What took you so long? A must-listen.

I’m Coming Home - Tom Jones
Beast of Burden - Rolling Stones
Young Americans - David Bowie
Streets of Fire - Bruce Springsteen
Trouble in Mind - Marianne Faithfull
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin
Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker
Seventeen - Janis Ian
23rd Street Lullaby - Patti Scialfa
Four Tops - Reach Out
Burce Springsteen - Stolen Car

Fiona ’s writing career, from journalism (Fiona was the last journalist in the UK to interview Michael Jackson before he died), to Faber Academy, to her fifth novel, Into The Dark, provides the framework for a far-reaching and wide-ranging conversation encompassing love, loss, fear, survival and joy. Join us x

Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandie Shaw
I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
Like a Prayer - Madonna
Carey - Joni Mitchell
Atomic - Blondie
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Shine -Take That
Shallow - Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga
Titanium - David Guetta fest. Sia
The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
See you Again - Wiz Khalifa/Charlie Puth
Dancing in the Dark - Bruce Springsteen

Prolific novelist, OBE, the first female chair of the Royal Society of Literature, Professor of Creative Writing and champion of new writers Maggie Gee joins Antonia to talk about her fourteenth novel, The Red Children. This is a conversation about writing, longevity, disappointment, love, war and hope - but above all, it’s a chance to enjoy the company of a writing icon and beautiful human being. Join us x

Mack the Knife - Lottie Lenta Kurt Weill, sung by Lotte Lenta

Sheep may safely graze - Bach, played by Leon Fleisher

What a fool believes - Aretha Franklin

Jazzman by Carole King, Tapestry

Until You Come back to me - Aretha Franklin

Bess, you is my woman now - Miles Davis

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, instrumental - Sakimoto

Be thankful for what you’ve got - William Devaughn

Summertime by Rebecca Ferguson.

Do you want to dance? - Bette Midler

Benny and the Jets - Elton John

Saturday in the Park - Chicago

These Foolish Things - Thelonius Monk solo piano

Oh Happy Day: Aretha Franklin, Live at New Bethel

Lewis’ human and superstar novelist Joanna Cannon joins Antonia to talk about her new novel, A Tidy Ending, about the beginning of her writing career, the joys and perils of early success, about resilience and perseverance and moving from writing as joy to writing as career. And, of course, the music. Please join us!

These Boots - Nancy Sinatra
To Sir With Love - Lulu
Space Oddity - David Bowie
Welome Home - Peters, Lee
Don’t Think Twice - Bob Dylan
Tie A Yellow Ribbon - Dawn
Bird on the Wire - Leonard Cohen
I do, I do, I do, I do, I do - ABBA
All Over The World - Françoise Hardy
Tennessee Waltz - Eva Cassidy
Ain’t That A Kick In The Head - Dean Martin
I’m On My Way - The Proclaimers

Stephen joins Antonia to talk about his novel Sell Us The Rope, the novel Hilary Mantel wishes she had written. It’s 1907 and Stalin is in London for the 5th Congress of the Russian Communist Party… Sell Us The Rope is Stephen’s sixth novel - he’s been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Prize with Life! Death! Prizes! the title of which sums up this Book Club chat - except for the death bit, which we took out to make way for the punk rock and iconoclasm. Bring on the Booker.

Dancing Queen- Abba
Cloudbusting - Kate Bush
Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Always on my Mind - Elvis Presley
Help - The Beatles
Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie and the Hod Rods
Burn the Heather - The Lounge Society
Lost Weekend - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Sigh o’ the Times - Prince
Sale of the Century - Sleeper
I feel love - Donna Summer
Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan
The Emperor’s New Clothes - Sinéad O'Connor

Bestselling novelist Janice Hallett joins Antonia to talk about her phenomenally successful debut novel The Appeal, about how her life as a journalist and a screenwriter has fed into her work as a novelist, about how she uses music to trick herself into getting the writing done and about What Happens Now (including adapting her own work for the screen).


Brand New Key - Melanie Safe
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Save a Prayer - Duran Duran
I Can’t Go For That - Hall and Oates
Baby Driver - Simon and Garfunkel
Rather Be - Clean Bandit
Fleetwood Mac - Little Lies
That’s Entertainment - The Jam
Do It Again - Steely Dan
Hotel California - The Eagles
Angie Baby - Helen Reddy
West End Girls - The Pet Shop Boys
The Logical Song - Supertramps

Hannah joins Antonia to talk about The Codes of Love and its genesis as a short story, unlikeable characters, the importance of music, why we write (and why we don’t) and how we might just persuade ourselves to keep going.

Tall Heights - Horse to Water
Angel Olsen - Windows
Ane Brun - Halo
Alvvays - Archie, Marry Me
Laura Marling - Ghosts
First Aid Kit - Emmylou
Daughter - Candles
Emily King - Georgia
Sufjan Stevens - Should Have Known Better
Phoebe Ryan - A Thousand Ways
Alela Diane - Emigré
Lord Huron - The Night We Met

Laura Pearson, novelist and founder of The Motherload Book Club, brings a list of her favourite books to Book Club. We talk about titles, whether there’s a right time to write about disasters, the importance of small presses… We also talk about Laura’s own writing and her novels, Missing Pieces and Nobody’s Wife, and the life-changing turn of events in Laura’s own life that led to her third novel, I Wanted You To Know.


Paperback Writer, The Beatles
Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac
Watermelon Sugar, Harry Styles
Trash, Suede
Wake Up Boo, The Boo Radleys
We Didn’t Start the Fire, Billy Joel
Always Remember Us This Way, Lady Gaga
Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen
Famous Blue Raincoat, Leonard Cohen
Frank Mills, The Lemonheads
No Body No Crime, Taylor Swift
Fast Car, Tracy Chapman

Susie joins Antonia live in the studio to talk about her beautiful new novel Loved and Missed, about family and loss and the superpower of kindness, the brilliance of Judy Garland, Susie’s writing career - and her wonderful song choices.

Bob Marley - Redemption Song
The Pogues - Dirty Old Town
Beyonce - Hold Up
Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry on their Own
Judy Garland - Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart
Hoagy Carmichael and Ella Logan - Two Sleepy People
Janet Kay - Silly Games
Judy Garland - Old Man River
Justin Hinds - Save a Bread
Chet Baker - Let’s Get Lost
Stevie Wonder - Heaven Help Us All
Lily Allen - Who’d Have Known

Imogen Hermes Gower and Antonia talk about Imogen's Women’s Prize shortlisted debut novel, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, about the effect of a staggeringly successful debut on her life and writing, about writing courses and competitions and mermaids and writing historical fiction for a contemporary audience and Joan of Arc and - of course - Kate Bush.


Paris 1919 - John Cale

Neighborhood #2 (Laika) - Arcade Fire

Samson - Regina Spektor

Emily - Joanna Newsom

Remember - the Shangri-Las

The Crane Wife 3 - Marianne Faithfull and Nick Cave

Theme de Yoyo - Art Ensemble of Chicago.

The Disposition of the Linen - Michael Nyman from The Draftsman's Contract OST

Adios - Benjamin Clementine

Say You Love Me - "Om" Alec Khaoli

Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

Let It Go - Idina Menzel from the Frozen OST

Cathy joins Antonia to talk about Write It All Down, her generous, tender and constructive guide for anyone wishing to turn their own experiences into words on the page. We discuss Cathy’s first book, her memoir The Last Act of Love, about the death of her beloved brother Matty, and the path of her writing and teaching since then, which somehow led to the wonder of Write It All Down.

Irish Rover,The Pogues and The Dubliners
Mattie’s Rag, Gerry Rafferty
Together in Electric Dreams, Giorgio Moroder and Phil Oakley
Wish you were here, Pink Floyd
Don’t Look Back in Anger, Oasis
Common People, Pulp
Cheek to Cheek, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
Get Lucky, Daft Punk
The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie
Say a Little Prayer, Aretha Franklin
Feeling Good, Nina Simone

Beloved book blogger (Years of Reading Selfishly, Two Fond of Books) and regular guest Clare Reynolds brings her gloriously voracious reading habit to the service of anyone looking to buy books for Christmas, and we settle once and for all the pressing question of which of us George Michael would have chosen if the universe had arranged itself differently.

Elton John - Step Into Christmas
The Pretenders - 2000 miles
Elvis - Blue Christmas
Freiheit - Keeping the Dream Alive
East 17 - Stay Another Day
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - The Power of Love
David Essex - Winter’s Tale
Harry Connick Jr - It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song
The Flirtations - Christmas Time is Here Again
The Muppets - It Feels like Christmas
Chris de Burgh - A Spaceman Came Travelling
Boney M - Mary’s Boy Child
Wham! - Last Christmas

Andy Miller 5th December 2021

By overwhelming popular demand, Andy Miller (yes, he of The Year of Reading Dangerously and Backlisted Pod) returns to Chiltern Voice Book Club, this time bringing his Christmas record collection. Between his glorious Christmas music choices, Andy and Antonia talk all things Christmas - presents, family, arguments, exactly what The Wombles and The Sex Pistol have in common … and books. All the books.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas is Coming
Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
The Flirtations - Christmas Time is Here Again
The Sweet Inspirations - Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday
ABBA - Little Things
The Wombles - Wombling Merry Christmas
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
The OJays - Christmas Just Aint Christmas
Big Star - Jesus Christ
Margo Guryan - I Don’t Intend To Spend Christmas Without You
Scritti Politti - Snow in Sun
Twice as Much and Vashti - The Coldest Night of the Year
Solomon Burke - Christmas Presents
The Beatles - Christmas Time Is Here Again

Chiltern Voice Book Club celebrates the launch of Sunburnt Saints, an anthology of climate change fiction, with interviews and song choices from some of the contributors, as well as from Andy Leach and Hannah Persaud, founders of Massive Overheads. The anthology is available from Big Green Books - order a copy online.

Andy Leach - Richard Thompson, When the Saints Rise Out of Their Graves
Hannah Persaud - Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat
Sophie Power - Prince, Sign of the Times
Anna Vaught - Steve Harley, Cockney Rebel - Come Up and See Me (Make Me Smile)
Katie Willis - Madonna, La Isla Bonita
Giselle Leeb - Michael Kiwanuka, One More NIght
James Woolf - Bob Dylan, Licence to Kill
Ian Critchley - Kate Bush, Cloudbusting
Matt Thomas - Neil Young, Wonderin’
Rachael Smart - Billy Joel, Uptown Girl

In this super-spooky Hallowe’en special, the prizewinning, bestselling Queen of Horror Catriona Ward joins Antonia to talk about the fascination of horror - why we read it and why she writes it. Encompassing an unusual childhood, the curse of the second novel, the writing of her Stephen King-championed breakthrough novel, working as Executive Producer on the film adaptation with The Imaginarium, love, loss and creation, this is a wise and generous tour through the mind of a writer at the top of her game.

Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes
Billy Joel - The Downeaster ‘Alexa'
Minnie Riperton - Les Fleurs
Guns N Roses - Don’t Cry
Brandon Flowers - Crossfire
Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
Robyn - Dancing on my own
Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man
Blondie - Heart of Glass
Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - Don’t Give Up
Noel Coward - Marvellous Party

Tammy - with her alter-egos Tamar Cohen and Rachel Rhys - joins Antonia to talk about beginning her writing career, the carcasses she has hidden in her laptop, Richard and Judy’s orange sofa, and exactly how she has managed to write fourteen novels in eleven years. Courage, compassion -and news of a new Rachel Rhys title coming next year!

Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien
Shirley Bassey - The Girl from Tiger Bay
Madness - It Must Be Love
Leonard Cohen - So Long, Marianne
Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Come On, Eileen
Roxy Music - Avalon
The Smiths - Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
Diana Ross - Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Abba - Dancing Queen
Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Nina Simone - Feeling Good

Proud Liverpudlian Sarah Moorhead talks about the beliefs and passions that drove her genre-defying debut Witness X, about writing before and after publication, about justice, fragility, peace - and the village it takes to nurture a writer.

The Beatles - Paperback Writer
Johnny Cash - You Are My Sunshine
Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring on the Dancing Horses
Sting - Fragile
I Want to Break Free - Queen
Just Can’t Get Enough - Depeche Mode
This Woman’s Work - Kate Bush
I’m Still Standing - Elton John
Familiar - Agnes Obel
Halo - Beyoncé
Where Is the Love? - Black Eyed Peas
You’ll Never Walk Alone - Judy Garland

Gareth talks about his writing beginnings (including meeting Diana Wynne Jones), his first publications, The Embers of War trilogy, the value of science fiction to the future of humanity - and happiness.

All My Stars Aligned - St Vincent
Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads
It Must Be Love - Labi Siffre
Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground
Downtown Train - Tom Waits
Oh, Maker - Janelle Monáe
L.A. Woman - The Doors
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
What a Wonderful World - Joey Ramone
Because the Night - Patti Smith