Inklings Book Club

Today we’re joined by the incredibly talented novelist Julia Armfield. Julia wrote one of my favourite books ever, called Our Wives Under The Sea. It’s about a woman who returns from a disastrous deep-sea dive, and her wife who is now looking after someone she barely recognises. It’s so lyrical and beautiful, she is such a talent. We met to discuss her debut, as well as her newest release Private Rites, a similarly wet novel. In Private Rites, the world is drowning after so much rain. Three sisters are navigating love and loss in this new reality, and the book is actually a reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Unfortunately we don’t have the video for this episode, the footage somehow got lost, so this episode is audio-only. Please welcome to the Inklings Book Club, Julia Armfield.
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Today we have a very special episode where we’ll be talking about Enid Blyton’s classic series of children’s books The Faraway Tree, co-hosted by Ruby Granger! Ruby will be chatting with Claire Foy, Nicola Coughlan, Phoenix Laroche, Billie Gadsdon, Delilah Bennett Cardy, Simon Farnaby, and Ben Gregor.
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Andy Weir is the king of sci-fi. His first novel The Martian follows Mark Watney, an astronaut mistakenly presumed dead and abandoned on Mars by his crew during a dust storm. Stranded with limited supplies, he uses his botany and engineering skills to survive while NASA figures out how to rescue him. His next novel was Artemis, following a woman living in the first city on the Moon. Then came Project Hail Mary.

We follow science teacher Ryland Grace as he wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he discovers he is the last surviving person on a mission into space to understand a substance called astrophage. Astrophage is causing the sun to die out, and scientists have discovered a distant planet that might hold the key to destroying it. Ryland Grace has to use his scientific training to finish the mission alone, and meets an unlikely ally in space. It’s a story of friendship, communication, understanding, and resilience. It’s both laugh out loud funny and cry your eyes out heartbreaking, a modern sci-fi classic.

Now it’s been turned into a film. In our last episode I met with star of the film Ryan Gosling and filmmakers Lord and Miller. And now, we’re chatting with the author himself Andy Weir. I really hope you enjoy this episode.
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If you know me you will know how much I adore the novel Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. We follow science teacher Ryland Grace as he wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how we got there. As his memory slowly returns, he discovers he is the last surviving person on a mission into space to understand a substance called astrophage. Astrophage is causing the sun to die out, and scientists have discovered a distant planet that might hold the key to destroying it. Ryland Grace has to use his scientific training to finish the mission alone, and meets an unlikely ally in space. It’s a story of friendship, communication, understanding, and resilience. It’s both laugh out loud funny and cry your eyes out heartbreaking, a modern sci-fi classic.

Now, Andy Weir’s novel has been adapted for the screen. Ryan Gosling takes on the role of Ryland Grace – he’s the Oscar-nominated star of Barbie, La La Land, Drive, The Nice Guys, and The Notebook. He is a force to be reckoned with, and a true movie star. We’ll also be joined by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directors of Project Hail Mary. They’re a filmmaking and acting duo behind Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, and the Spider-Verse franchises which won them an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
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