Catherine Raynes: The Secret Book Society and Clown Town

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin  

You are cordially invited to the Secret Book Society… 
  
London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories. 
  
Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret. All are drawn to the enigmatic Lady Duxbury, a thrice-widowed countess whose husbands’ untimely deaths have sparked whispers of murder. 
  
As the women form deep, heartwarming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they face. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything. 

  

Clown Town by Mick Herron  

Spies lie. They betray. It's what they do. 

Slow horse River Cartwright is waiting to be passed fit for work. With time to kill, and with his grandfather - a legendary former spy - long dead, River investigates the secrets of the old man's library, and a mysteriously missing book. 

Regent's Park's First Desk, Diana Taverner, doesn't appreciate threats. So when those involved in a covert operation during the height of the Troubles threaten to expose the ugly side of state security, Taverner turns blackmail into opportunity. 

Over at Slough House, the repository for failed spies, Catherine Standish just wants everyone to play nice. But as far as Jackson Lamb is concerned, the slow horses should all be at their desks. 

Because when Taverner starts plotting mischief people get hurt, and Lamb has no plans to send in the clowns. On the other hand, if the clowns ignore his instructions and fool around, any harm that befalls them is hardly his fault. 

But they're his clowns. And if they don't all come home, there'll be a reckoning. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from Newstalks The B two twelve. Time to get your
book picks for this weekend. Katherine Rains as our book reviewer.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning, morning Jack.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Let's begin this morning with The Secret Book Society by
Madeline Martin.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
So this is a historical novel set in eighteen ninety
five Victorian London, and it's about a forbidden book club
and the dangerous secrets and the woman who dare to
kind of break the societal rules. And the book almost
starts at the end, which is always an interesting way
to start, and you have this woman called Lady Duxbury,
and she finds out that a friend's been sent to

(00:44):
asylum by her husband. But then we go back to
the start and she started this Lady's Tea to assist
women in society who's been restricted by the controlling men
in their lives, and she offers them access to her
library as most women are forbidden from reading fictional novels
and things to improve themselves. And these women age are
from their late teens on and they receive invitations at

(01:05):
their homes like Rosie Wharton and Livin There Cavendish and
Elan or Clark get the invitations and they jump at
the chance, and you know, it's allowing them to really
be theirselves and drop the false pretenses, able to read
what they want because Lady Dutchby's given them the ability
and understand how difficult their lives have been. And it's
a really interesting portrayal of their life during eighteen hundreds,

(01:29):
and that detail and the dialogue really makes you feel
like you're there. But also how the upper kind of
parts of society were treated in their marriage and the
controlling and you know, and these women didn't you know,
women who didn't control were often sent to the same
asylums or mental institutions. And so what you've got is
this book about friendship and caring and kindness. It's really

(01:49):
a comparative narrative of the time. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Great, Okay, that's the secret book Society My Bent by
Madeline Martin. Now mckheran is back. He is the author
of the slough House series, which is the series that's
inspired Slow Horses, that amazing TV show. He's got a
new book called clown Town.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
So yes, if you're a fan of Slow Horses, then
you'll love this book. So we're at Slowhouse and there's
a bunch of spies have been sent there because they've
blotted their copy books, and Canton Standish and river Cartwrite
and Roddy Hole a part of that, and river Cartlite
has been poisoned for snother chopped by the Russians. And
he's hoping to return to work soon and he's waiting
for his medical assessment, but at the time he's kind

(02:28):
of need something to do. So he's taken on his
grandfather's extensive library and he's transferring the information to the
Spies College. And one item's missing, one book, and he
can't find it, but he knows that it's there because
he's seen a photo taken on his phone, and it
transpires that it's not a book but a dummy book
disguised as a book and which secrets can be hidden,

(02:48):
and now someone else has it, and you know, secrets
that were important for his grandfather to hide, and that
kind of starts him down on this really interesting mystery.
And then in another tangent, there's this blackmail that's got
to the first desk of m I five and a
woman called Diana at Tabana into her back ops mode
and she's kind of trying to find out what's going on,

(03:10):
and she's in charge and clinging to power and with
this iron grip. And then there's this man, Jackson Lamb,
and he's really the main protagonist, and he's kind of
mining his own business, drinking whiskey by the tumble fill,
drinking a lot of smoking a lot of cigarettes, and
eating some dodgy takeaways. And it's very funny. The woodiest
pointed the Dialogu's pointed and saulting and very witty, and

(03:31):
he's focused on kind of working out what's going on
with this really lazer precision. I've got lots of themes
in the story about redemption and betrayal and loyalty, and
everybody in this place will kind of eventually betrayal, will
be betrayed, and it kind of comes with the territory.
But it's really well plotted and a tale that's kind
of really timely and interested and entertained.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Ah so good. I love slow horses. So I've got
to get into the slough House series. That sounds fantastic.
So that's Mchern's clown Town. Catherine's first book, The Secret
Book Society by Madeline Martin. All the details for those,
of course, will be up on the News Talks be
website for more.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to News
Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio