Books & Chat: Short Book Reviews & Literary Discussions

Bitesize episode - Broken Country - Clare Leslie Hall

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth's brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn't realise that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives.

Bitesize episode - Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and snoozed in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. This happened to me.' When lockdown led busy professional Chloe to leave the city and return to the countryside of her childhood, she never expected to find herself custodian of a newly born hare. Yet when she finds the creature, abandoned, alone and no bigger than her palm, she is compelled to give it a chance at survival. Raising Hare chronicles their journey together and the challenges of caring for the leveret and preparing for its return to the wild. We witness first-hand an extraordinary relationship between human and animal, reconnecting with our childhood enthusiasm for wildlife. This improbable bond of trust serves to remind us that the most beautiful experiences, inspiring the most hope, arise when we least expect them.

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Christina and her guest Angela discuss Andrew Miller's The Land in Winter, shortlisted for the Booker Prize - a spare, wintry novel about endurance, loyalty, and the quiet moral choices people make when the world narrows. A calm, thoughtful conversation about a book that lingers.

Bitesize: Top 3 Books of 2025

A concise Books and Chat Bitesize episode exploring the Gloucester Book Club’s Top Three Books of 2025. A reflective look at the stories, themes, and authors that shaped our reading year. About the : Books & Chat is a cosy Gloucester Book Club podcast with short reviews and thoughtful conversations for readers who love good stories.

Women’s Prize for Fiction Winner Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet has stayed with me ever since I first read it — a story so tender, so exquisitely imagined, it felt like it settled into my bones. With the new film adaptation about to arrive, it felt like the right moment to bring back this episode I recorded five years ago, when the book had just swept through my life and my book club. In this short revisit, we talk about the beauty of O’Farrell’s writing, the quiet power of Agnes, and the way love and loss echo through a family. If you’re returning to the story ahead of the film, or discovering it for the first time, I hope this episode offers a gentle way back into that world.