In this episode of Bound by Books, we catch up on our latest adventures. Hannah shares her experience of attending the Green Man Festival and losing her festival virginity, while Nikki looks ahead to her upcoming theatre trips, including As You Like It and My Neighbour Totoro, as well as a visit to the Duxford Airshow.

Then it’s time for our buddy read: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Full spoilers ahead!

Natalie seems to have the perfect traditional life: a beautiful farmhouse, a handsome cowboy husband, children and enviable homemade sourdough. But when she wakes up in a disturbing version of her reality, everything familiar feels wrong. As she searches for a way out, the novel explores tradition, fame, faith and the performance of womanhood.

We discuss the book’s fascinating premise and its take on the trad wife movement, including the appeal of the aesthetic, the romanticising of traditional gender roles and the contradictions behind the polished social-media image. We also explore connections to influencers such as Hannah Neeleman’s Ballerina Farm and Nara Smith, as well as wider ideas around consent, submission and female liberation.

Other topics include Natalie as an unlikeable female protagonist, whether readers judge unlikeable women more harshly than men, the lack of female friendship and community in the novel, Caleb’s role and motivations, and the mystery surrounding Shannon.

And, of course, we get into the twist: whether it worked for us, whether it felt earned, and whether the characters’ motivations made the ending believable.

What did you think of Yesteryear? Did the twist work for you? Let us know!

Welcome back to Current Reads! This week we’re talking music festivals, steamy romance, unsettling short stories, forbidden love, representation in publishing — and introducing our brand-new Book Prescriptions.

A Little Catch-Up

Hannah has been visiting her parents in Wiltshire, enjoying a lovely lunch and a shopping trip to Bath. She’s also preparing for The Green Man Festival — despite being a complete festival virgin!

Nikki shares her festival experiences and tells us about a rather unusual BBQ prompted by the government’s wildfire warnings.

We also reveal our next buddy read: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, and discuss whether all the hype surrounding it will affect our expectations.

Hannah’s Reads

Fever Dream — Elsie Silver

Things get spicy, sassy and steamy as Hannah discusses Elsie Silver’s small-town romance.

We chat about the comfort of predictable romance, the similarities between romance novels and Hallmark-style TV, third-act misunderstandings, two-dimensional characters and the male gaze.

We also tackle first versus third person, writing sex scenes and the difference between erotica and a steamy romance.

Odd Body — Rose Keating

A collection of ten bold and unsettling short stories exploring desire, fear, shame and the human body.

We focus on the wonderfully strange titular story about a woman living alongside a ghost, and discuss how Keating uses humour to explore depression and mental health.

Nikki’s Reads

My Policeman — Bethan Roberts

Set in 1950s Brighton, this story of forbidden love, homosexuality and marriage follows Marion, Tom and Patrick as they navigate a complicated love triangle.

We compare it with our previous buddy read, A Room Above a Shop, and discuss historical context, social class, unreliable narrators and why Tom — the policeman at the centre of the story — never gets a voice of his own.

We also discuss the film adaptation and whether we think it can be successful from page to screen.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo — Christy Lefteri

Christy Lefteri’s powerful novel about love, loss and survival during the Syrian war leads us into a much bigger discussion about who gets to tell whose stories.

We explore representation, marginalised voices, diversity in publishing and whether writers should tell stories from perspectives different from their own. And ultimately, does the quality of the writing change that debate?

Book Prescriptions

Our new feature is here!

We’re prescribing books for life's literary ailments — including an antidote to hot weather, a cure for ennui and a book for anyone suffering from a fear of making bad decisions.

Because sometimes the best medicine is a really good book.

Listen to Episode 16 of Current Reads for book reviews, reading recommendations, romance, short stories, literary discussion and plenty of opinions along the way.

In this episode of Bound By Books, we’re taking a closer look at Anthony Shapland’s debut novel A Room Above a Shop — a tender, atmospheric story of love, secrecy and two men trying to build a life together in South Wales during a time when their relationship could not safely be lived in public.

But first, we catch up on what we’ve been reading, watching and getting up to this summer. Hannah has embraced the English countryside with picnics and hiking, but has also discovered a surprising love of battle re-enactments, falconry and archery. Perhaps there’s a secret fantasy nerd lurking beneath the surface after all… We also find time to discuss the undeniable appeal of hot men jousting. Naturally.

Nikki has a full programme of culture to look forward to including: As You Like It, the Duxford Airshow and My Neighbour Totoro on her summer agenda!

We’re delighted to announce that Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, will be joining us during September to talk about her novel, The Homemade God. We’ll announce the exact date very soon, so keep an eye out.

And if you have a question you’d love us to ask Rachel, send it to hello@bounbybooks.co.uk and we’ll put it to her on the podcast!

Set in the South Wales valleys against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate, and the HIV and AIDS crisis, A Room Above a Shop follows two quiet men whose tentative friendship develops into something deeper.

M has inherited his family’s ironmongery business. B, eleven years younger, sees little future in the place where he grew up. When M offers him a job and somewhere to live, the two begin working side by side and sharing a room above the shop — quietly creating a life together that feels both precious and precarious.

We both had different reactions to the novel, which makes for plenty to discuss.

Hannah was moved by the book’s tenderness, its striking imagery and, particularly, what Shapland leaves unsaid. She loved the emotional restraint and the sense of frustration created by a relationship that could not be openly lived. But she also struggled to distinguish the characters at times, found some elements of the style repetitive, and wasn’t convinced by the ending.

Nikki was less convinced overall, although she admired the lyrical, poetic quality of Shapland’s writing. For her, the beautiful language sometimes came at the expense of the story itself, leaving her unsure about what was happening and wanting more character development.

From there, we get into the bigger questions raised by the novel:

• How does the South Wales landscape and setting shape the story?

• How effectively does the novel convey the historical reality of Section 28 and the AIDS crisis?

• Should historical fiction teach us about the period it depicts, or can it assume that readers will fill in the gaps themselves?

• What happens when a novel introduces ideas that are never fully explored or resolved?

• How does Shapland convey the experience of living a secret life?

• When does a character become a cipher rather than a fully realised person?

• Does the novel’s poetic, almost prose-poem-like style enhance the story — or get in its way?

• Why does Shapland choose to reveal certain events and information when he does?

• And, most importantly… what on earth did we make of that ending?

Was it a cop-out? An easy way out? Or was it actually an honest reflection of the messiness and unpredictability of life?

We also reference The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, The Facts of Life by Patrick Gale, My Policeman by Bethan Roberts, and the 2014 film Pride.

Have you read A Room Above a Shop? We’d love to know what you made of the writing, the characters and — yes — that ending. Let us know!

Exciting news! We’re chatting to Rachel Joyce!This episode’s Buddy Read: A Room Above a Shop by Anthony ShaplandBooks and films mentioned