Ian McEwan and Martin Amis are two old friends – who also happen to be literary superstars. Listen to them discuss their thought-provoking new books, The Children Act and The Zone of Interest, look back over their distinguished careers and consider the current state and the future prospects of the novel. The podcast is presented by journalist Alex Clark. Contains strong language.

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Ian McEwan – The Children Act

A brilliant, emotionally wrenching new novel from the author ofAtonementandAmsterdam.

Fiona Maye, a leading High Court judge, renowned for her fierce intelligence and sensitivity is called on to try an urgent case. For religious reasons, a seventeen-year-old boy is refusing the medical treatment that could save his life. Time is running out.

She visits the boy in hospital – an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. But it is Fiona who must ultimately decide whether he lives or dies and her judgement will have momentous consequences for them both.

Martin Amis – The Zone of Interest

Shortlisted for the 2015 Walter Scott Prize

‘Surely his masterpiece… Intelligent, terrifying and comic… Amis has tackled the biggest questions with imagination and intelligence, and the ultimate strength of this masterly novel is that he knows, and shows, that although there is no answer to the questions Auschwitz poses, we must never stop asking them. Read it, ponder it – revel in it indeed – then read it again.’

Allan Massie,Scotsman

There was an old story about a king who asked his favourite wizard to create a magic mirror. This mirror didn’t show you your reflection. Instead, it showed you your soul – it showed you who you really were. But the king couldn’t look into the mirror without turning away, and nor could his courtiers. No one could.

What happens when we discover who we really are? And how do we come to terms with it? Fearless and original,The Zone of Interestis a violently dark love story set against a backdrop of unadulterated evil, and a vivid journey into the depths and contradictions of the human soul.

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