Andy & John are joined by publisher Alexandra Pringle and Simon Thomas, editor and co-host of the Tea or Books? podcast. The book under discussion is Cassandra at the Wedding, the fourth and final novel by Dorothy Baker, first published in 1962 by Houghton Mifflin in the USA and Victor Gollancz in the UK. What is it about this darkly funny tale of two devoted sisters that continues to appeal to generations of readers?

Also in this episode John enjoys Notes from an Island by Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä, newly reissued by Sort Of Books, while Andy returns to early 1980s London via Michael Bracewell's new book Souvenir (White Rabbit).

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Books mentioned:

Dorothy Baker - Cassandra at the Wedding; Young Man with a Horn; Trio
Tove Jansson & Tuulikki Pietilä - Notes from an Island
Michael Bracewell - Souvenir; Perfect Tense
Tove Jansson - The Summer Book; The Winter Book; Fair Play
Mollie Panter Downes - My Husband Simon
Mary Essex - Tea is So Intoxicating
F. Tennyson Jesse - A Pin to See the Peepshow
Winnifred Boggs - Sally On the Rocks
Dorothy Evelyn Smith - O, the Brave Music
Esther Freud - Hideous Kinky; Peerless Flats
Lucy Ellman - Sweet Desserts
Miriam Toews - All My Puny Sorrows
Meg Rossoff - The Great Godden

Other links:
Peter Flannery on adapting the book for radio
Trailer for Young Man With a Horn
Bix Beiderbecke - ‘Bless You! Sister’