The Bookshelf
The Bookshelf
ABC Australia
New fiction from Amitav Ghosh, Edwina Preston and Gwendoline Riley
54 minutes Posted Apr 17, 2026 at 5:00 am.
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Show notes
In this episode, Kate and Cassie are joined by celebrated novelist Madeleine Gray and rock icon Tim Rogers for a wide-ranging discussion looking at three works of contemporary fiction: Indian writer Amitav Ghosh’s Ghost Eye, a meditation on reincarnation and climate change; Australian writer and musician Edwina Preston’s Sororicidal, a sharp novel of sisterhood and rivalry; and English stylist Gwendoline Riley’s The Palm House, a disquieting portrait of modern life in London.
BOOKS
Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye (John Murray)
Edwina Preston, Sororicidal (Picador)
Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House (Picador)
REVIEWERS
Madeleine Gray — writer and critic, author of Green Dot and Chosen Family
Tim Rogers — singer‑songwriter, actor and writer; frontman of You Am I and the Hard‑Ons, currently on a solo tour
OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED
Britney Spears memoir
Sinéad O'Connor, memoir
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca
Edwina Preston, Not Just a Suburban Boy; Bad Art Mother
Simon Mason, DI Wilkins Mysteries
Clive James, Unreliable Memoirs
Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore
Wayne Marshall, Henry Goes Bush
Larry McMurtry, works
Joe Boyd, And The Roots of Rhythm Remain
CREDITS
Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh
Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett
Sound, Antonia Gauci and Micky Grossman
Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown