We’re so excited that Between the Covers is back for a third series. Each week, host Sara Cox is joined on BBC Two each week with four celebrity guests. They’ll be discussing two books; a newly-published book and, for the first time, hot on the heels of the Booker Prize, a shortlisted title that didn’t win the prestigious prize, but still deserve to be celebrated.
Catch up on Between the Covers on BBC iPlayer and see the full series line up.
Episode 5 – Wednesday 8 December
This week, Sara is joined by Great British Bake Off’s Prue Leith, musician Sharleen Spiteri and actors Jason Forbes and Ben Willbond as they share their favourite books and review this week’s book club choices: new book Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and Booker backlist gem Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Buy this book from Bookshop.org or hive.co.uk to support The Reading Agency and local bookshops at no additional cost to you.
It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him – and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.
The long-awaited new work from the author of Foster, Small Things Like These is an unforgettable story of hope, quiet heroism and tenderness.
Read an exclusive extract of Small Things Like These.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Buy this book from Bookshop.org or hive.co.uk to support The Reading Agency and local bookshops at no additional cost to you.
London 1862.
Sue Trinder, orphaned at birth, grows up among petty thieves – fingersmiths – under the rough but loving care of Mrs Sucksby and her ‘family’. But from the moment she draws breath, Sue’s fate is linked to that of another orphan growing up in a gloomy mansion not too many miles away.
‘Totally immersive with brilliantly drawn characters… a page-turning thriller while managing to be a tender love story’ – Adam Kay
