Whitcoulls Recommends: Clown Town and Fly, Wild Swans

Clown Town by Mick Herron. This is the latest novel in his Slow Horses series, about Jackson Lamb and the cast of MI5 misfits and rejects that he manages in Slough House. They are brilliant books and this one is no exception. There are several seasons of an Apple TV series based on the books which is wonderful television, but as always, the books are even better. Highly recommended for anyone who likes spy stories, and eccentric, interesting and deeply flawed characters.

Fly, Wild Swans by Jung Chang. In 1991, Jung Chang’s memoir about three generations of women in her family in China was on everyone’s reading list - and it was wonderful. This is a follow up, updating things since the impact that success had on her life, change in China and its place in the world over the years and what’s happened to her during that period - it’s really a personal and global memoir, and much of it is a love letter to her mother. Her books are all banned in China, but luckily we have them here. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Joe McKenzie, Good morning, Good morning. Oh you've got a.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Couple of rippers for us today, both authors I think
a lot of our listeners will be familiar with.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
We've got a new book from mcheron to.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Start with, Yes, and we love mccheron. Yes, it's called
clown Town. And for anyone who is struggling to place mcherron,
he's the guy responsible for the series of books called
Slow Horses, which were also made into a terrific Apple
TV series. But I always maintain that the book is
always better because you get so much nuance in it

(00:43):
and you're right back at the origin story of the
things that happened. So slow Horses is a term that
comes from a building called Slour House, and it's full
of misfits and rejects from I five, who operate under
the direction of Jackson Lamb, who in the TV series
is played by Gary Oldman, who's absolutely brilliant.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
And mhaern is.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
He's cynical and he's wry, and he's witty and he's
utterly merciless in the way that he portrays these people
who've all in some way been let down by Five,
or they have let I Five down, and hence they've
been banished to essentially this Siberia of Slough House. And
there are several plot lines in this new book which

(01:29):
converge at the end in a brilliant ending. It's about
some former Five members who were deployed in Ireland during
the troubles and they want compensation for what happened to
them then and afterwards. And then the woman in charge
of Five, who's a brilliant character, Diana Taverna, she's been
blackmailed by a former MP who has a very compromising
tape recording on her. And a book goes missing from

(01:52):
a curated private collection which turns out to have been
a repository of state secrets, and all of these things converge,
and they call him the slow Horses. So what could
possibly go wrong?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
You're right, But for all of that, it'snicle and all
these other things.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
It's also so.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Funny at times.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
It's so black and funny.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Absolutely absolutely, And Yung Chang has a new book out.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
She does. In nineteen ninety one, she wrote a book
called Wild Swans which was honestly one of the best
memoirs have it.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
From mother to daughter and true families. It was fitting
because it was.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
About three generations of her family, her grandmother who at
the start of the book was born and then had
her feet bound, her mother, and herself, and it worked
its way through the Cultural Revolution when Yung was just
a child. And this is a sequel, and it's kind
of a personal and a global memoir because it tells
the story of what happened since the first book, but

(02:47):
it also talks about the transformation of China into a
real superpower, and it's a love letter to her mother.
Her books abandoned China. She used to go back every
year to see her mum, but until under Jijinping, the
political climate made it impossible for her because he said
that anyone who insulted or slew landed the state would

(03:07):
go to prison. And that's how they saw her books,
which are banned, all of them in China. But the
story of their lives is just extraordinary. Her parents were remarkable.
Her life has been remarkable. She went from the communist
state to the wild Swan's phenomenon and great wealth exiled,
essentially living in England and how she reconciles those two

(03:28):
things is really quite extraordinary, wonderful.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Hey, big news. The Kid's Top fifty is out the
new list.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Which is very exist it is, and I noticed that
you've got eighteen titles by New Zealand authors, fifteen newcomers.
And I love the fact that almost half the books
feature animals. Of course, yes, good, isn't It's fantastic. Were
there any surprises on the list for you?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Do you think surprises?

Speaker 4 (03:53):
I'm not sure about. Certainly some newcomers. Dreams Slinger by
Gracie Kim, who is now her book has made the
list and that's really nice because again it's new. The
Alla Diaries are in normal stay popular with some young readers.
There's a series called Bunny Versus Monkey which has made
the list. The book called The Wild Robot which came

(04:14):
also as a movie and it's been hugely popular. I've
not read it, but it sounds terrific. So there's a
lot of really good new stuff.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Okay, if you need a new idea for your kid, wait,
she's great for the kids to have it. Look through
the list and browse the list and put a few
marks on because you know, what Christmas is coming, Joan,
And I know it's ridiculous I'm saying that in September,
but it is.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
I'm already thinking of it.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
And I'll just say that there's a real breadth of
age groups and themes, so there'll be something here for
every kid.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Brilliant.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
So that's the Kid's Top fifty. You can see that
online or you'll be able to find it with you're
in store as well.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, there we go.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
The books that Joan was spoke about today clown Town
by Mick heron clowntown. It's quite hard to say clowntown.
And also Fly Wild Swans by Young Chang.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks there'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio