Quick Book Reviews with Philippa Hall

No author interview, no book reviews — just Philippa's most personal episode of the year: her best reads of the first six months of 2026. Twelve books, one honourable mention, and the admission that it was genuinely hard to narrow it down.
These are books Philippa read between January and June — not necessarily published this year — in alphabetical order by author surname, because she doesn't want to rank them.
🎖️ Honourable Mention
The Wedding Suit – Rachel Joyce (BBC Radio Drama)
A five-part radio serial about an eccentric elderly couple whose isolated lives are transformed by the unexpected arrival of a child. Written by Rachel Joyce, narrated by her husband Paul Venables (Yakob in The Archers). Still available on BBC Sounds — Philippa considers it essential listening.
📚 The Top 12
YesterYear – Caro Claire Burke
The trad wife book everyone's been talking about — and rightly so. A brilliant concept, word-of-mouth sensation, and genuinely hard to put down.
Body of Lies – Jo Callaghan
The fourth and final Kat and Lock book. An AI detective, a murdered MP, a cyberattack, and a taunting binary code message. Plus: Philippa gets a mention in the acknowledgements. Chef's kiss.
Solitary Agents – David Goodman
The second Jamie Tulloch spy novel. Clever concept, brilliant writing, and completely readable without the first book.
Broken Country – Claire Leslie Hall
A quiet sucker punch of a book — part courtroom, part countryside, all heart. Beautifully written and emotionally devastating.
The Drowning Place – Sarah Hilary
A Peak District crime series debut unlike anything else in the genre right now. Joseph's story is different in a way Philippa isn't willing to spoil — but can't stop recommending.
A Family Matter – Claire Lynch
Short, devastating, and extraordinary. A letter arrives. Two timeframes — 1982 and 2022. About love, acceptance, and everything in between.
Slings and Arrows – Nick McLachlan
A book about darts in the 1980s that turns out to be about friendship, marriage, health, and everything men don't say to each other. Published 2024. Beautiful.
Night Swimmers – Roisin McGuire
A coastal Northern Ireland village, a quirky swimmer called Grace, a visitor with a complicated story, and a cast of locals who made Philippa laugh out loud. The audiobook is gorgeous.
Land – Maggie O'Farrell
Starting in 1865 Ireland, this is Philippa's favourite Maggie O'Farrell yet. Exquisite writing, emotional gut-punches from nowhere, and a book that feels like the land itself is reading alongside you.
Mars One – Charlotte Robinson
A sci-fi thriller that works even if you don't read sci-fi. A one-way mission to Mars, a conspiracy, a vanished coder in Hong Kong, and his cat. Needs to be a film immediately.
The Things We Never Say – Elizabeth Strout
Philippa's first Strout & now she wants them all. A teacher named Arty handles life with quiet grace & devastating tenderness. Already pressed into multiple people's hands.
The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal – Jodi Taylor
Time travel, hijinks, chaos, and joy. A brilliant entry point into Jodi Taylor's world, and the audiobook is perfection.
💬 What were your best reads of the first half of 2026?
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Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
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A short but exciting episode! Philippa announces a brand new format for the podcast: a Quick Book Reviews Book Club, running throughout October.
The chosen book is The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway — already out in paperback, 384 pages, and available from libraries. Each week in October, listeners will read roughly 96 pages, with Philippa sharing her thoughts at the end of each episode so no one has to miss the main content if they're behind on reading.
About the book:
Katie is a barmaid in a quiet Derry neighbourhood, happy with her small life and her daughter, Hope. Everything changes when two detectives approach her, wanting her to become their informant. Caught between the police and the dangerous brothers she works for, Katie must survive by staying the one person nobody suspects.
Philippa also shares a quick update on changes to the podcast schedule:
Mondays — author interviews
Fridays — Philippa's own takes on the book world, publishing chat, and things on her mind
This is a one-off trial for now — no pressure to join, and listeners can catch up in their own time. Updates and discussion will also be shared on the Quick Book Reviews Facebook group throughout October.
The Book Club Pick: The One You Least Suspect by Brian McGilloway (out now in paperback)
Join the discussion
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | Email: quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
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Bestselling author and broadcaster Fern Britton joins Philippa for a very special summer edition of Quick Book Reviews to talk about her wonderful new novel, A Cornish Legacy.
Fern shares stories of solo travelling in Florence, cycling adventures across India, Madagascar, Cuba and Egypt, dream holidays to Penang, mosquito nightmares, Cornwall, family history, and the joy of finding a place to truly belong.
They also discuss the emotional inspiration behind A Cornish Legacy, the real Cornish house that inspired the story, food in fiction, family secrets, wartime history, reviews, writing challenges, and why Fern thought this might be “the worst book” she’d ever written — before readers fell completely in love with it.
A Cornish Legacy is a warm, emotional and uplifting novel set around a beautiful old Cornish house called Wildahoo. After heartbreak and loss, Cordelia unexpectedly inherits the crumbling house and must decide whether to destroy it or rebuild both the property and her own life. Rich with friendship, family, belonging, love and second chances, it’s perfect for readers who adore atmospheric Cornish fiction. (penguin.co.uk)
Perfect for fans of Fern Britton, Cornish fiction, women’s fiction, uplifting novels, family stories, summer reading, author interviews, and feel-good books with heart.
Books and authors mentioned:
A Cornish Legacy by Fern Britton
Daughters of Cornwall by Fern Britton
Still Life by Sarah Winman
Gone with the Wind by Gone with the Wind
Dorothy L. Sayers
Agatha Christie
This episode is full of travel stories, writing wisdom, Cornwall, family memories, laughter, emotion, and excellent advice about protecting your ice cream from seagulls.
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Recorded live at Capital Crime Book Festival, Philippa talks to Gavin Bell — also known as Mason Cross, also known as Alex Knight — about his gripping new thriller 138 Main Street. But first, three festive reads for anyone who, like Philippa, enjoys a Christmas book in the height of summer.
3 Christmas Books for Summer
The Winter Guest – Sarah Moss
Two strangers share Christmas Eve dinner in a remote Irish hotel as a snowstorm gathers outside — and each has a confession to make. Atmospheric and unexpected.
A Carol and a Killing – Reverend Richard Coles
A festive cathedral choir concert ends in tragedy when a soloist falls — or was he pushed? A cosy, witty Christmas murder mystery.
The Case of the Christmas Card – Elly Griffiths
Charles Dickens turns up on time-travelling detective Allie Dawson's doorstep just before Christmas, and the two team up to solve two cases at once — all while Dickens tries to find his way home.
Gavin Bell on 138 Main Street
A killer is targeting victims who all live at the same address — 138 Main Street — but there are 7,664 Main Streets in America. How do you predict where they'll strike next?
Gavin and Philippa discuss:
Writing under three different names, and the moment he had to invent a Gavin Bell signature on the spot at his book launch
His dream holiday on the Orient Express, with separate compartments for family, friends, and quiet decompression time
Reading The Godfather for the first time and why watching the film first makes you appreciate the book more
His nightmare holiday: Benidorm 1996, hangovers in the heat, and reading the backs of cereal boxes for entertainment
Where the idea came from — an offhand line in another book, plus a real-life unlocked-doors estate that spooked him into writing it
Why short, sting-in-the-tail chapters are deliberate, and why "I read it in three hours" is the highest compliment a thriller writer can get
Why he keeps his day job, and the colleagues (and CD collection) who keep accidentally ending up as character names
Ice cream order: "Marathon Man" Snickers ice cream in a waffle cone — no sauce, no flake, just pure peanut-chocolate perfection.
Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | Email: quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the Quick Book Reviews summer special, and Philippa is joined by the wonderful Elly Griffiths — bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series — to talk holidays, her latest novel The Killing Time, and what's coming next in the world of time-travelling detective Ali Dawson.
☀️ Holiday Chat
Elly is a self-confessed good traveller — half Italian, born in August, and happiest in the heat. She and Philippa cover:
Dream holiday: a pale pink villa on the Amalfi Coast, a little boat, one evening a week with a local chef, and a carefully curated stack of books
Nightmare holiday: Las Vegas — fake light, fake skies, rows of slot machines, and a pool you're not actually allowed to swim in
The art of the airport — checkers vs loungers, and why Elly is slowly becoming her husband
Buying your own book in an airport duty-free shop and having to pretend you didn't know it was there
The Jodi Picoult book she left behind in a holiday rental with one chapter to go (it still haunts her)
The worst possible holiday book: saccharine sweet, no darkness underneath, and the last chapter ripped out
🎙️ The Killing Time — Elly Griffiths
The second book in the Ali Dawson series finds time travel strictly forbidden — until Ali's cat goes missing and she decides the rules don't quite apply to that. What follows takes her to 1851, the Great Exhibition, a sinister mesmerist called Barry Power, and a chance encounter with Italian physicist Serafina Pellegrini — all with her cat Terry somehow along for the ride.
Elly and Philippa discuss:
Why time travel in these books is really just "where Allie goes" — no sci-fi knowledge required
How Ali arrived fully-formed, red-haired and nose-ringed, walking down an East End street
Her nod to Chaucer's Wife of Bath in Allie's character
The Ruth Galloway update — a short story set on a Nile cruise, and a tantalising hint about Ruth's daughter Kate turning 18 this November...
The Case of the Christmas Card (out October): a novella in which Charles Dickens travels to 2024, falls in love with M&S sandwiches, and helps Ali solve a case
The Night Watchman (out February): Ali goes back to the London Blitz — and Elly goes deep on 1940s rabbit keeping
What expression she hopes readers will have at the end: satisfaction, with a little curl of curiosity
Ice cream order: Coffee, classic, in a little cup — the odd coffee bean acceptable, squirty cream absolutely not.
The Killing Time is out now in hardback. Paperback out 10th September.
💬 Get in touch
Quick Book Reviews Facebook Group | Instagram | quickbookreviews@outlook.com
Quick Book Reviews: author interviews and book reviews with no spoilers.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.