Contemporary Fiction

Thirteen plays about human connection, from some of BBC Radio's best writers exploring love, family, romances and life's ups and downs This diverse collection of stories centres around family dynamics, relationships both romantic and platonic, and the diverse ways ordinary people navigate the vicissitudes of everyday life. Ranging from modern fairy tales to coming-of-age dramas, they feature a wide variety of styles, and are scripted by an array of writers from award-winning dramatists to first-time authors. Here are stories of meeting and parting; hope and heartbreak; grief and forgiveness; and the endless possibility of change.

We meet the couple racing to secure their IVF treatment; the wide-eyed young Conservative whose awakening is more than just political; the teenager who discovers a secret that threatens his entire extended family; the ex-offender transformed through his friendship with a photographer, and many more captivating characters. These engrossing dramas let us venture into their worlds; giving us an intimate insight into their lives and loves. Among the casts are Jaime Winstone, Sean Gallagher, Rhea Bailey, Mina Anwar, Ciaran Griffiths and Harry McEntire.

'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away...'

For Leila, each minute after her death brings a sensuous memory: the taste of spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the long-awaited birth of a son; the sight of bubbling vats of lemon and sugar which the women use to wax their legs while the men attend mosque; the scent of cardamom coffee that Leila shares with a handsome student in the brothel where she works. Each memory, too, recalls the friends she made at each key moment in her life - friends who are now desperately trying to find her. . .

It is 1875 and Ann Eliza Young, nineteenth wife of the second Prophet of the Mormon Church, battles for freedom from her powerful husband, to lead a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. Richard & Judy Bookclub

**WINNER OF THE ORANGE AWARD FOR NEW WRITERS**

'A remarkable first novel...vibrant...exotic' Sunday Times

Discover the critically acclaimed debut from the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of Ordinary People

Identical twins, Georgia and Bessi Hunter, live in the loft of 26 Waifer Avenue. It is a place of beanbags, nectarines and secrets, and visitors must always knock before entering. Down below there is not such harmony. Their Nigerian mother puts cayenne pepper on her Yorkshire pudding and has mysterious ways of dealing with homesickness; their father angrily roams the streets of London, prey to the demons of his Derbyshire upbringing.

Forced to create their own identities, the Hunter children build a separate universe. Their elder sister Bel discovers sex, high heels and organic hairdressing whilst the twins prepare for a flapjack empire. It is when the reality comes knocking that the fantasies of childhood start to give way. How will Georgia and Bessi cope in a world of separateness and solitude, and which of them will be stronger?

'Hugely assured and very moving' Mark Haddon

'Diana Evans's fiction is emotionally intelligent, dark, funny, moving. The sheer energy in her novels is enthralling. A brilliant craftswoman, a master of the form, she makes the reader ask important questions of themselves and makes them laugh at the same time' Jackie Kay, British Council and National Centre for Writing's International Showcase on Britain's 10 best BAME writers

Winner of the British Book Award for deciBel Writer of the Year
Shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award
Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Best First Book Award
Shortlisted for the Times/Southbank Show Breakthrough Award
Recipient of the Betty Trask Award
Longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Everything is falling to pieces for Francesca Thayer. Her relationship collapses and she can't possibly manage the mortgage alone, so she is forced to do the one thing she never imagined she would: she advertises for lodgers. But soon she finds that her tenants have become the most important people in her life and Francesca discovers that she might be able to open her heart again after all...

For thirty years, best friends Stephanie and Philippa have been practically inseparable. There's nothing they would not do for one another...until a few simple words change everything. Both women have always believed that friendship is built on mutual selflessness, compromise and trust. Are those beliefs now to be tested beyond endurance?

Alice and Niall used to be lovers, best friends and parents, in that order. Now they're no longer on the same page or even reading from the same book.Ann thought when she and Ken retired, it would be their second spring. Instead, it feels more like an icy winter.Orla is falling in love with boyfriend Paul, but her complicated past makes her unsure if she can ever be intimate with anyone.Three couples find themselves telling a stranger about the most private part of their lives - their hopes, their disappointments, their awkward realisations.

Molly has moved from London to Herefordshire chasing 'The Good Life', but when her husband David dies and she’s left an inheritance of a London townhouse, she dares to consider chucking it all in. Then a face appears from her past, and Molly is more confused than ever.

A piercing story of thwarted love and true friendship from one of our greatest living writers Marianne Clifford, 15, only child of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, Lal, falls helplessly and absolutely for Simon Hurst, 18, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward into a successful and monied future, helped on by doting parents. But fate intervenes. Simon's plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together.

Narrating her own story, characterising herself as ignorant and unworthy, Marianne's telling use of irony and smart thinking gradually suggest to us that she has underestimated her own worth. We begin to believe that - in the end, supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella - she will find the life she never stops craving. But what we can't envisage is that beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst has been nursing a secret which will alter everything.

The Accidental pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer. There a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts, trampling over family boundaries and sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light.

It all begins with a hot air balloon trip and three bottles of champagne. Allan and Julius are ready for some spectacular views, but they’re not expecting to land in the sea and be rescued by a North Korean ship. Soon Allan and Julius are at the centre of a complex diplomatic crisis involving world figures from the Swedish foreign minister to Angela Merkel and President Trump. Things are about to get very complicated…

At JFK Airport, a routine plane departs for San Francisco. Security agent Bernice Adams finds a postcard of the Golden Gate Bridge bearing an ambiguous message. Which flight is that person on, and what exactly does the message mean? Her supervisor dismisses her concerns but she is compelled to contact Homeland Security. Someone's planning something terrible and these passengers' lives entwine as they come together to help to avert a tragedy at the eleventh hour.

Sophie Mills has worked her Manolo Blahniks off to reach the near-top of her profession. And she's very happy with her priorities in life: her job, her neurotic cat Artemis, and her passion for shoes. Then one day an unexpected visitor brings news of a strange inheritance and suddenly, out of the blue, she is in sole charge of two children under the age of six. Within 24 hours, her make-up is smeared all over the bathroom and Sophie is in despair. She’ll need more than a business plan to cope with all this...

Having completed his life's work, the Dictionary of the English Language, Dr Johnson is prominent in 18th Century society, but his home life is chaotic. He develops a relationship with a friend's wife, which is observed by Mrs Thrale's daughter, Queeney.

In the Sixties, a group of middle-aged, middle-class offspring of the old bourgeoisie meet night after night on a houseboat on the Nile. They lament the social changes ushered in by Nasser, and try to re-create their cosy enchanted world. There are unforeseen consequences when, one night, art and reality collide.

When Laura Costello arrives in downtown Los Angeles, her life has somewhat fallen apart.

Her apartment building has caught fire, her engagement to her high school sweetheart has been broken off, and she's just been caught in a rare LA downpour and has no dry clothes.

But when she seeks shelter in Nina Hill's local neighbourhood bookshop, she finds herself introduced to the people who will become her new family. And as Laura becomes friends with Nina, Polly and Impossibly Handsome Bob, things start to look up.

Proving that - even as adults - we all sometimes need a little help assembling and re-assembling our lives. . .

Adèle appears to have the perfect life. A respected journalist, she lives in a Parisian apartment with her surgeon husband and their son. But beneath the veneer she is bored - and consumed by an insatiable need for sex, whatever the cost. Struggling to contain the compulsion, she begins to orchestrate her life around her one night stands and affairs, until she becomes ensnared in a trap of her own making.

Connie McCabe longs for the summer where she spends the days leading tours across the continent. But it's on the glamorous shores of Lake Como where she is truly swept away, when Jared, a much younger man, falls for her. Despite resisting his advances Connie finds that he's got under her skin. And so begins a long, hot, intoxicating summer where Connie succumbs and breaks her marriage vows. At the end of the season Connie returns home to her husband, wanting to put this affair behind her.

Angelica has the world at her feet: a gorgeous French husband, two beautiful children and a successful career. One night at a gossipy dinner party, Angelica’s husband harmlessly flirts with another woman and Angelica herself encounters Jack, a handsome and charismatic man from South Africa. Angelica and Jack are irrevocably drawn together and cannot ignore the sparks that fly between them. From her glamorous life in London, to the lush vineyards of South Africa, Angelica finds herself on a journey that will risk all she has worked for.

Brendan has always lived a careful, constrained life. A salesman who never liked the work, he's a man who has stayed in his marriage and his faith because it was what was expected of him. But now, having lost his job after corporate downsizing and on the cusp of sixty, he finds himself scrambling to somehow stay afloat in the only Los Angeles work on offer to a man his age - driving for Uber.

When one of his rides, a retired professor named Elise, asks to be dropped off outside an abortion clinic where she now volunteers, Brendan finds himself literally driving right into the virulent epicentre of one of the major issues of our time, engulfing his life in the process. A novel of high suspense and considerable moral complexity, Afraid of the Light is a tough, affecting social thriller that speaks volumes about the corrosive divisions of our troubled times.

On May 3rd, 1942, Alma Braithwaite and her fellow boarders at Goldwyn's school huddle in an air-raid shelter as bombs rain down on Exeter. When the girls emerge, the school is in ruins. Twenty-one years on, Alma teaches music at her old school. The arrival of a new student takes Alma back to that summer and the long shadow it cast on her life.

Retired doctor Fredrik Welin lives alone on an island in the Swedish archipelago. But his quiet, solitary life is turned upside down when his house catches fire. The house that has been in his family for generations and all his worldly belongings are gone. He cannot think who would do such a thing, or why. When another house goes up in flames, the community realizes they have an arsonist in their midst...

This is the story of the Honourable Guinevere Dilberne, daughter of Arnold, 11th Earl of Dilberne, Sandra Sinclair and Rita Boniface. Yes, that's right. Three parents. Or, in fact, four, if you wish to count Sandra's husband Clive. Though he played little part in it. It all begins with a loving couple, their intefering neighbour, a test tube and a turkey baster. These days, anything can happen...

Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with the love of her life, Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can't help but feel she's right back where she started.

One summer's day, John Cole decides to leave his life behind. He shuts up his bookshop and drives out of London. When his car breaks down and he becomes lost on an isolated road, he stumbles into the grounds of a grand but dilapidated house. Its residents welcome him with open arms, and claim to have been waiting for him all along...

In each of the twelve stories in After the Funeral, small events have huge consequences. Heloise's father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Two estranged sisters cross paths at a posh hotel and pretend not to recognize each other.

Janie's bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janie's own age - everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend's death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend's wife. Teenager Cecilia wakes one morning on vacation with her parents in Florence and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes. As psychologically astute as they are emotionally dense, these stories illuminate the enduring conflicts between responsibility and freedom, power and desire, convention and subversion, reality and dreams. 

After the storm it's time for a fresh start . . .

The powerful and heart-stirring new novel by the Sunday Times bestselling author of Unexpected Lessons in Love.

First, the clouds...
Tara Hunter is a therapist on a mission to restore Longhampton's community spirit after catastrophic flooding. But with her boyfriend AWOL, her family fragmented, and only a cat for company, Tara's own life is crumbling.

Then the storm...
On top of everything, Tara's father - last seen as he walked out on her when she was ten years old - is suddenly back, with a surprising offer that could change everything.

And after the rain...
Dr David Dalloway is Longhampton Wellness Centre's new star counsellor. He's charming, caring and has a knack for reading people's minds - which is the last thing Tara needs right now. Will having David and her dad around make for a bigger storm on the horizon? Or is this Tara's chance for a fresh start?

In the quiet of a New Zealand Winter's night, a rescue helicopter is sent to airlift a five-year-old boy with severe internal injuries. At first his injuries look like a horrible accident. Only his mother knows the truth. And she isn't telling. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Richard & Judy Bookclub

After the breakdown of a turbulent relationship, Frank moves from Canberra to a shack on the east coast once owned by his grandparents. He wants to put his violent past and bad memories of his father behind him, but he soon finds it is not easy to let go of the past.

An extraordinary story of two women, separated by time but connected by fate. When Jane meets Rose, a formidable older lady, there's no love lost between them. But with time running out, can Rose and Jane come together to make peace with the tragic secrets that have always haunted their lives?

Read by Marian Keyes and featuring an exclusive Q&A between Graham Norton and Marian Keyes.

Twenty-five years after the iconic, 1.5 million-copy bestseller Rachel's Holiday burst into our lives, Rachel's BACK!

Back in the long ago nineties, Rachel Walsh was a mess.

But a spell in rehab transformed everything. Life became very good, very quickly. These days, Rachel has love, family, a great job as an addiction counsellor, she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive trainers.

But with the sudden reappearance of a man she'd once loved, her life wobbles.

She'd thought she was settled. Fixed forever. Is she about to discover that no matter what our age, everything can change?

Is it time to think again, Rachel?

Kate Madison’s family are grown up and ready to forge lives of their own, but she can’t keep her children from playing against the odds. The hardest lesson will be that she can’t protect them from the choices they make.

Nahr has been confined to the Cube. The world outside calls Nahr a terrorist, and a whore; some might call her a revolutionary, or a hero. But the truth is, Nahr has always been many things, and had many names.

She was a girl who went to Palestine in the wrong shoes, and without looking for it found what she had always lacked in the basement of a battered beauty parlour: purpose, politics, friends. She found a dark-eyed man called Bilal, who taught her to resist; who tried to save her when it was already too late.

Nahr sits in the Cube, and tells her story to Bilal. Bilal, who isn't there; Bilal, who may not even be alive, but who is her only reason to get out.

Set in India and Cambridge before the outbreak of World War 1, this is the story of Thomas Cavendish, a man in his mid-fifties and the obvious choice to become Master of his college. One day, walking by the river, he sees a young girl on a bridge and falls irrevocably in love with her, but the consequences are both tragic and life-changing.

A decade and a half has passed since Grace was locked up, at the age of 16, for the murders of her employer Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper/lover Nancy Montgomery. Her alleged accomplice, James McDermot, was hanged in 1843. Dr Simon Jordan attempts to uncover the truth.

In her old house by the fjord, Signe lies on a bench and sees a vision of herself as she was more than twenty years earlier: standing by the window waiting for her husband Asle, on that terrible late November day when he took his rowboat out onto the water and never returned. Her memories widen out to include their whole life together, and beyond: the bonds of family and the battles with implacable nature stretching back over five generations, to Asle's great-great-grandmother Aliss. In Jon Fosse's vivid, hallucinatory prose, all these moments in time inhabit the same space, and the ghosts of the past collide with those who still live on.