Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper (Penguin) will be featured on the Radio 2 Book Club on Monday 9 February.
The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK.
We have an exclusive extract available for you to read as well as a discussion guide for your reading group.
Etta and Otto and Russell and James
Etta’s greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 2,000 miles to water.
Meanwhile her husband Otto waits patiently at home, left only with his memories. Their neighbour Russell remembers too, but differently – and he still loves Etta as much as he did more than fifty years ago, before she married Otto.
Selection Panel Review
Our reading panel of librarians and staff from The Reading Agency really enjoyed Etta and Otto and Russell and James – here are some of their comments:
“This book is wonderful. Wonderful. I loved the characters, their attitudes. I loved their back-story. I loved where the story was going. I loved their interaction with those they passed in the story. I smiled as I read it, which, when you think of it, doesn’t really happen often – your face is more often one of concentration or relaxation. I want to talk about it now! I think this is going to be a real hit and will end up on a lot of Reading Group lists!”
“A gentle evocative, extremely well written description of two people’s lives totally intertwined and inseparable until the final ending.”
“I really enjoyed this tale; I don’t think there are enough books that are actually nice stories with characters that make you smile. I felt that the characters in this were likeable, and the stories of Etta, Otto and Russell growing up worked really well with the narrative in the present.”
About the author
Emma Hooper is a musician and writer. As a musician, her solo project Waitress for the Bees tours internationally and has earned her a Finnish Cultural Knighthood. As an author, she has published short stories, non-fiction pieces, poetry and libretti as well as a number of academic papers. She is a research-lecturer at Bath Spa University, in the Commercial Music department, but goes home to cross-country ski in Canada as much as she can afford.
A word from Emma
“Being chosen to go on-air for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club is huge. It’s one of the biggest honours I can think of. And not just for the obvious reasons. Not too many people know this, but, my first ever publication was on the radio. Back in Canada we have the CBC instead of the BBC, but the idea is generally the same. Around Christmas time, 1986, they ran a short-story competition. Whether it actually was for children or was a proper grown-up thing that caught my attention, I don’t remember or know. I entered, with a story called ‘Dancer, Santa’s Littlest Reindeer’. Which, fairly terrible though it was, won. The prize was a book and having my story read aloud on air. The book was for bigger kids and, frankly, scared me. The on-air reading of my work, however, was the most wonderful four minutes of my young life. Fast-forward twenty-eight years, and here I am again, completely bemused and overjoyed by getting my very own literary radio moment, once more. (Although this time the book I win isn’t scary… it’s mine.) And, just like last time, you can bet my mom and dad will have the family stereo turned all the way up…”
Get involved
Tune in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Monday 9 February to hear a live interview with Emma Hooper talking about her book.
Have you read Etta and Otto and Russell and James? You can share your thoughts on Twitter, or by posting a comment in the space below. You can also follow Emma Hooper on Twitter.
Want to find out more? The Radio 2 Book Club has a dedicated Twitter feed.
