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17 April 2023

Meet characters who have confronted life and death head on, or unwind with a thriller. The books chosen by guests on Between the Covers this week are not afraid of dealing with life's big themes.

Over the past six weeks, Sara Cox's guests on Between the Covers have been sharing their own favourite books. In the final episode of the current series, Gethin Jones, Meera Syal, Laura Whitmore and Joe Thomas reveal their reading recommendations.

Episode six - Favourite books from our guests

The cover says: For more than 25 years, David Nott has taken unpaid leave from his job as a NHS surgeon to volunteer in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993 to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving surgery in the most challenging conditions. War Doctor is his extraordinary story.

Gethin says: I think it's a book that everyone should have. It's a brutally honest account of how David Nott steps away from his day-to-day life as a general and vascular surgeon and goes to work in the heart of war zones around the world. It does go into quite graphic detail about situations, but also talks about the impact of his experiences and what he's learned.

Maybe I bonded with it a little bit because he's from a little place called Trelech, which is where my dad was brought up. David was bullied at school, he failed his A-levels and yet he's gone on to be one of the strongest, most caring individuals you can possibly imagine. He does go into the politics of war a little bit and there was one thing that really stuck with me about how doctors, nurses, any medic, they do it for altruism. He describes situations where he's just treating the person in front of him without any judgement, and sometimes they're the perpetrators. That's something that makes you think.

This guy admits he's addicted to the chase and he loves the buzz of being in those war zones. By the end, he's such an inspiration. You're literally stood on your feet and you're ready to take on the world.

The cover says: On the day of Henry and Keelin Kinsella's wild party at their big house, a violent storm engulfed the island of Inisrun, cutting it off from the mainland. When morning broke, Nessa Crowley's lifeless body lay in the garden. Ten years later a documentary crew arrives, determined to find evidence that will prove Henry's guilt and Keelin's complicity in the murder of beautiful Nessa.

Laura says: I love Louise O'Neill. She's a beautiful Irish writer who came to prominence a few years ago for her novel, Asking For It.

This is fiction, but it's loosely based on things that have happened in the past. It's about this woman whose body is found after this big party on a little fictional island in West Cork. It's uncomfortable to read but compulsive - you can't put it down. I absolutely devoured it. This young girl's body is found and no one's ever arrested, but there's this understanding that the small community know who did it. And then 10 years later, this film crew comes along to make a documentary about the murder and it all kind of unravels.

There's a famous true-crime podcast called West Cork, which is based on the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case. And this book is not about her, but it's very similar. There's this understanding that people might know more than they actually do. It turns out that it's not just a whodunnit, but it becomes this conversation around social issues such as domestic abuse, control and toxic relationships. It's the first book like this that Louise has written, and I highly recommend it.

The cover says: Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality.

Joe says: If somebody said they had time to read one more book before they died, I'd say read this. It's incredibly entertaining. It's about murder, really. But it's about murder committed by a group of highly educated, brilliant young people.

The protagonist is drawn to this group, in a slightly Brideshead Revisited/Charles Ryder-ish way. The protagonist is basically a nice snob from a small town who dreams of something better. They're drawn in even though they shouldn't be, because these are dangerous people. But they're so beautiful and eloquent and well-dressed, and their fountain pens are so expensive. And you kind of think, 'Yeah, that's how it would happen. That's how I would get involved in a murder.'

It's set in a college so they're students, and they're in love with themselves. They have a charismatic professor who leads them into a world where they think they can do what they want, and it's completely convincing. On one level, it is just a brilliantly written thriller.

The cover says: This enthralling story of the rise of women and the fall of empire introduces an extraordinary individual and her part in the defining moments of recent British and Indian history.

Meera says: In so many ways I love it. Sophia Duleep Singh was the granddaughter of the last Maharajah of the Punjab. Her father, Duleep Singh, was taken to England and became Queen Victoria's pet. His daughters were all brought up in grace and favour of Queen Victoria. And the deal was: As long as you behave yourself, I will give you all this money. You are my pet. Never think of India again.

So Sophia grew up a bit like Kim Kardashian. Basically, she was an 'it' girl, and then something happened to her. When she visited India in 1894, she suddenly realised what her heritage was and what had been taken away from her family. That was the point where she began to change. This woman who started as this ditzy socialite threw herself into the suffragette movement. She was one of the leading suffragettes with Emmeline Pankhurst, although she was completely erased from history until Anita Anand told her story here.

Sophia used her celebrity to further the suffragette cause. She tried desperately to get arrested, but the authorities wouldn't do it because they knew she'd become a martyr. And she was biting the hand that fed her all the time, but it didn't stop her. So she became this hugely revolutionary figure and the arc of her story is so interesting. I'm really pleased to say she's getting a blue plaque this year at Hampton Court, where she used to live. For me, being British Asian, to find all those untold stories and to know that we were part of British history and we've always contributed - it means a lot.