2024-07-30
28 分钟In our summer books special, we sit down with two brilliant writers. First we hear from Scottish author and screenwriter John Niven, whose moving 2023 memoir ‘O Brother’ is now out in paperback. Then we meet first-time novelist Mariel Franklin, whose debut, ‘Bonding’, is a smart, pertinent book about sex, technology and friendship. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to Monocle on Culture.
I'm Robert Bounds.
We're turning over a new leaf on our exploration of the best bits of summer culture today.
It's time for us to dive into the books you should be reading on beaches, in airplanes, or on ill fated summer British picnics.
God help us all.
I enjoyed two lively conversations at monocleonculture.
HQ for this episode, the first with.
The Scottish author and screenwriter John Niven.
Niven's moving 2023 memoir of his brother Gary is out now in paperback.
Then I was delighted to meet first time novelist Mariel Franklin, whose debut is a smart, supremely current book about sex, tech and friendship.
Do stay tuned.
That's all coming up here on Monocle on Culture.
First up, John Niven has achieved great success as both an author and a screenwriter.
But there's one personal story that in recent years he was finally ready to tell.
O Brother is the story of John's own brother Gary, who at the age of 42, called the emergency services to tell them he was trying to take his own life.
He was taken into hospital where he was left alone in a room and again attempted suicide.
He was then found unconscious and put in a medical coma from which he would never awake.
It goes without saying that O Brother is a profoundly moving story of troubled minds and tragic moments.
But it's also a tender and often very funny look at sibling relationships and what it can take to knock them off course, as well as the profound and loving ties that always remain.
On the release of the paperback, John joined me to discuss the book and I began by asking how he found the balance between heaviness and humour.