Our last book choice of 2025 is The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell.

Alex joins Sara for a chat about the novel, the inspiration behind it, the obstacles that come with writing a time travel narrative and working out a writing routine for busy working mums.

We also hear a clip from the audiobook - and - Alex gives us a great book recommendation too. (one that keeps cropping up!)

Here's a little more info on The White Octopus Hotel:

London, 2015

When reclusive art appraiser Eve Shaw shakes the hand of a silver-haired gentleman in her London office, the warmth of his palm sends a spark through her. His name is Max Everly – curiously, the same name as Eve’s favourite composer, born one hundred sixteen years prior. And she can’t shake the feeling that she’s held his hand before . . . but where, and when?

The White Octopus Hotel, 1935

Decades earlier, high in the snowy Swiss Alps, Eve and a young Max Everly wander the winding halls of the grand belle epoque White Octopus Hotel, lost in time. Each of them has been through the trenches – Eve in a family accident and Max on the battlefields of the Great War – but for an impossible moment, love and healing are just a room away . . . if only they have the courage to step through the door.

Sara welcomes Rachel Parris and Jessica Bull to the Radio 2 Book Club for a celebration of Jane Austen.

Jess writes the 'Miss Austen Investigates' series, whilst Rachel performs in the improvisational group Austentatious - and has just published her first novel, inspired by an Austen character.

They chat with Sara about when their love of Austen began, their favourite books and adaptations - and - how she has inspired them to write.

Our two guests also recommend us a book they have been reading and enjoying recently - and - we get to hear a snippet of a new audio abridgment of Pride & Prejudice - read by the legendary Julie Andrews.

Here's some more info on Jessica's book - 'The Austen Christmas Murders':

The festive season is fast approaching. Jane Austen fears that without her lively siblings at home, there won’t be much Christmas cheer in the Austen household this year. But when she uncovers a skeleton in the cellar of Deane Parsonage, Jane soon forgets her woes. For who needs merriment, when there’s a mystery to solve? Jane quickly learns of a missing young bride, who after fleeing her wedding breakfast, was never seen again. Locals have long believed she haunts the woods nearby.

Could Jane have found her at last? Or does the truth of this mystery lie closer to home?

Over the twelve days of Christmas, Jane will embark upon festive delights, making merry, and solving murders…

And here's a little more info on Rachel's book - 'Introducing Mrs Collins':

Charlotte Lucas has never been a romantic. Practical to a fault, she accepted Mr Collins's proposal with clear eyes and a steady heart, trading passion for security. Life at Hunsford Parsonage may be quiet and predictable, but it is hers to manage - and she's determined to make the best of it, whatever Elizabeth Bennet may think.

That is, until an unexpected guest at Rosings Park turns Charlotte's careful world on its head. He sees her, challenges her - and a spark is lit. But true contentment is not only about who you choose to love, but who you choose to be. For the first time, she wonders: has playing by the rules kept her on the sidelines of her own life?

Debut novelist, Grace Walker, joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to chat about her claustrophobic, dystopian page-turner - 'The Merge'

The book asks a lot of questions for the reader, so Sara and Grace discuss some of those 'what would YOU do?' moments, as well as finding out some of the inspirations behind the plot and storylines. (it turns out, a conversation about not wanting to live in your partner's body can spark a whole novel)

Grace also gives us her book recommendation of the moment, and shares one of the horror stories from writing this particular book - the sort no writer wants to hear!

Here's some more info on 'The Merge'

Laurie is sixty-five and living with Alzheimer’s. Her daughter Amelia can’t bear to see her mother’s mind fade. Faced with the reality of losing her forever, Amelia signs them up to take part in the world’s first experimental merging process for Alzheimer’s patients, in which Laurie’s ailing mind will be transferred into Amelia’s healthy body and their consciousness will be blended as one.

Soon Amelia and Laurie join a group of other merge participants: teenage Lucas, who plans to merge with his terminally ill brother Noah; Ben, who will merge with his pregnant fiancée Annie; and Jay, whose merging partner is his unwilling addict daughter Lara.

As they prepare to move to The Village, a luxurious rehabilitation centre for those who have merged, they quickly begin to question whether everything is really as it seems.