Award-winning Australian novelist Charlotte Wood joins Harriett Gilbert to answer questions from readers around the world about her novel, The Weekend. It's a story of grief and friendship; three women meet to clear their deceased friend’s beach house and find themselves uncovering secrets and stirring up memories. (Image: Charlotte Wood. Photo credit: Carly Earl.)
Hello, this is the BBC World Service.
I'm Harriet Gilbert.
Welcome to World Book Club.
This month we've been reading a novel that explores the tribulations of old age and old friendships.
Darkly funny, frequently poignant, it's called the Weekend.
And here to answer questions about it from BBC listeners around the world is its award winning Australian author, Charlotte Wood.
Charlotte, welcome to World Book Club.
Thank you so much, Harriet.
It's lovely to be here.
Well, it's lovely to have you.
And I gather that as well as being turned into a TV series, the Weeknd has also been now adapted for the stage.
Did you expect it to have these kind of side lives if you like these second incarnations?
No, I didn't.
I've had books option for film many times and that's for me like throwing a little penny in a wishing well or something.
Whether it comes about, I think, I think it is going to make the screen this time.
But the stage play was quite out of the blue and very beautifully done, I must say.
Well, as well as several non fiction books, Charlotte Wood has written seven novels, the most recent being Stonyard Devotional.
But it's her previous novel, the Weekend, that we're talking about today.
At its heart are three women in their 70s friends who've known each other for years.
First, in the order in which we meet them, comes Jude, hypercritical, super organized and until her retirement, in charge of an upmarket restaurant.