Books

Queen Victoria was a formidable monarch who ruled Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. By the 1890s she had over thirty grandchildren and she made it her business to try to… Audio

Holly Walker reviews This I Would Kill For: Natalie King, Forensic Psychiatrist by Anne Buist, published by Text Publishing. Audio

Feel Free by Zadie Smith. Reviewed by Kiran Dass, published by Hamish Hamilton. Audio

The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson. Reviewed by Gail Pittaway, published by Hachette. Audio

Literary luminary Jonathan Franzen doesn’t care that his his love of birds is uncool. They’re amazing, he says, and they matter. Audio, Gallery

Wellington author and illustrator Ruth Paul talk to Jesse about jellyfish, goats and zumba. Audio

Anchor Stone by Tony Beyer. Reviewed by Harry Ricketts, published by Cold Hub Press. Audio

Women & Power by Mary Beard. Reviewed by Hannah August, published by Profile. Audio

The Atomic City Girls: A Novel by Janet Beard. Reviewed by Anne Else. Published by HarperCollins. Audio

The hype around A J Finn's new psychological thriller, The Woman in the Window, is extraordinary. Stephen King calls the book "remarkable", and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn says it's "astounding"… Audio

Shaun Bythell lives in Wigtown, Scotland, where he runs The Bookshop - the largest second hand bookshop in Scotland. It contains over 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving along twisting… Audio

Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, reviewed by Stella Chrysostomou. Published by Granta Books. Audio

Lisa Finacane reviews The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, published by Hachette. Audio

In 2002, Mary Lynn Bracht visited her mother's childhood village, and first learned of the Korean sex slaves set-up for the Japanese military during WWII. It was to be the inspiration for her debut… Audio

Claire Murdoch reviews Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan, published by Penguin Random House. Audio

Most Afghans can't read but their book trade Is booming.

Meanwhile a Gallup poll shows North Americans are reading books as much as they were in 2002 despite the advent of social media and… Audio

Phil Vine reviews How to be a Human by Ruby Wax, published by Penguin Random House. Audio