Better Words

Sara Foster was born and raised in England but now lives in Perth with her husband and young daughters. She has previously worked as an editor in-house at HarperCollins UK and then freelance and has worked on many popular titles. She loves dystopian fiction so much that she’s studying the genre for a PhD at Curtin University. So it will come as no surprise that today we are discussing her somewhat dystopian book, and her latest novel, The Hush.

Our interview begins at 21 minutes.

Mini book club: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

A smart and addictive romantic YA novel that explores race, relationships and what it means to own your truth.

In this interview, we chat about:

• How Sara developed the idea for The Hush and why the mother-daughter relationship was central to the narrative
• Why Sara chose to write something so close to our current reality, with a story set less than 10 years in the future, and why she set it in England
• The freaky ways the books has mirrored real events
• Exploring the nuances of the mother-daughter relationship within The Hush
• Sara’s writing career and working on other books alongside The Hush
• Blending genres and why Sara is so fascinated with dystopia - how does the genre evolve from here?
• Why Sara wanted to pursue a PhD and how the novel developed out of that

Books and other things mentioned:

• 100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze by Clayton Zane Comber
• The Hate U Give (film)
• The Hunger Games
• Divergent
• Only Ever Yours
• Help (film)
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

Follow Sara @sarafosterauthor. The Hush is available now.

Follow us on Instagram @betterwordspod

Please note that Caitlin's job at HarperCollins Publishers did not affect our decision to invite Sara to be a guest, we're delighted to have her and hope you enjoy this episode. Michelle also read a PR copy.

Meg Rosoff spent 15 years working in advertising before writing her first novel. That book, How I Live Now, has since sold over one million copies in 36 territories, won prestigious awards and been adapted into a film. Her subsequent novels have been awarded or shortlisted for multiple awards including the Carnegie Medal. Although she was born in Boston, our guest now lives in London with her husband, daughter and dogs.

Interview starts at 15 minutes.

Caitlin recommends

2 brilliant fiction podcasts: Next Stop and Little Did I Know

For fans of rom-coms and uplifting contemporary storytelling.

Michelle recommends

Matt Haig's fiction. Beautiful magical realism exploring what it means to be human.

Books mentioned: How to Stop Time, The Dead Fathers Club, The Radleys, The Midnight Library

In this interview, we chat about

• The difficulty with trying to explain exactly what happens in The Great Godden (or any character-driven novel)
• Exploring conventional beauty, the commodity of beauty, and challenging commonly held beliefs
• Meg’s struggle writing The Great Godden and her decision to keep the narrator unidentified
• The act of discovery involved in writing a novel and trusting where the characters want to go
• Meg’s plans for another novel exploring a pivotal summer, set during a New York internship and featuring an intense friendship that goes wrong
• The arrival of the AIDS epidemic while Meg was living in New York in the 1980s
• How our society will change (and potentially flourish) after Covid
• The notion of adolescence and how it re-appears in our lives
• Why Meg believes self-doubt is “unbelievably important” to the creative process
• Meg’s experience of winning the second richest literary prize in the world: feeling unworthy, working harder to prove she was indeed worthy of the prize, and re-evaluating ‘success’
• The person Meg regards as the best writer in the world
• Meg’s advice to her younger self (and us all)

Books and other things mentioned

• Downton Abbey
• You’re Wrong About Podcast - Princess Diana series
• Pride (film)
• This Podcast Will Kill You Podcast - Hit Me With Your Best (Polio) Shot
• Wolf Erlbruch
• The Sword in the Stone by TH White

Learn more and get in touch with Meg at her website megrosoff.co.uk.

Follow us on Instagram @betterwordspod

Caitlin and Michelle both received copies of The Great Godden from Bloomsbury Publishing.

Saddle up your kangaroo, take a bite of your Vegemite sandwich and grab a glass of Milo to join Caitlin and Michelle chatting to writing wonder woman Danielle Binks. The #LoveOzYA anthology editor talks sharing our culture and positive change in publishing. ‘Straya mate.

How and why do we review and what happens when we didn’t love the book? This week we chat reviews (the good, the bad and the indifferent) and the relationships between authors and readers. Remember folks, be kind.

This week we get a sneak peek behind the scenes of our favourite book store and a taste of the publishing industry. We’re joined by Tonile Wortley from Hachette to talk about the books we don’t even know we want to read yet. Get those Christmas wishlists ready!