Summary: Hello and welcome back to You Wrote The Book, a book based podcast hosted by Simon Savidge. Each fortnight over the coming months he will be joined by a special guest author to discuss their life as a writer and as a reader, from the current novel they have published to the first book they read and everything in between. The guest for this episode is Charlotte Mendelson. Charlotte’s previous novels include ‘When We Were Bad’ which was short listed for the Orange Prize, 'Love In Idleness' and her debut novel ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’ which won both the Somerset Maugham prize and John Llewellyn Rhys prize. Her latest novel ‘Almost English’, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize earlier this year, it tells of sixteen year old Marina who has left the home of her mother and crazy Hungarian relatives, and the safety of her comprehensive for what she thinks will be the glamorous world of a boarding school; a place brimming with endless possibilities of boys, midnight feasts, romance and dare she even admit it sex. In reality though it is nothing like she dreams and Marina feels at odds with her surroundings, a lot like her mother Laura who she left back in London. Simon caught up with Charlotte to talk about her novels, book prizes and juggling the roll of editor and author, and started by asking her to explain why she called ‘Almost English’ a book about the ugly years... Coming up over the next few episodes will be authors including Susan Hill and Anthony Marra. If you have any questions for them, would like to suggest authors you think I should be getting on the show, or simply want to have a natter about books, you can email youwrotethebook@gmail.com or find us on twitter @youwrotethebook. If you want to hear Simon talking more books do join him every other week with Thomas Otto on The Readers Podcast, you can also find him chatting and reviewing book on his blog Savidge Reads. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes where you can find previous episodes with Evie Wyld, Keith Ridgway, Niccolo Ammaniti, John Boyne, Hannah Kent, Taiye Selasi, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Damian Barr, Maggie O’Farrell and many more.
