Gliterary Lunches - Food For Thought

So Much For That
by Lionel Shriver

The Author

Lionel Shriver is a successful novelist, widely published journalist and compelling public speaker who was well received by Gliterary guests in Glasgow in 2008. Her previous books include Orange Prize-winner We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Post-Birthday World, A Perfectly Good Family, Game Control, Double Fault, The Female of the Species, Checker and the Derailleurs, and Ordinary Decent Criminals. She writes features, columns, and book reviews for the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Economist, Marie Claire, and many other publications. She is frequently interviewed on television, radio, and in print media. She lives in London and Brooklyn, NY.

Praise for Lionel Shriver

'There is an impressive freshness in her treatment. The writing is intelligent, the characterisation thoughtful, the insights into love, sex and snooker sharp... Shriver confirms her reputation as an original talent'
Mail on Sunday

The Plot

So Much For That follows the story of Shep Knacker and Glynis, his wife of twenty-six years. Shep has long saved for "The Afterlife" their idyllic retirement on a tropical island where a nest egg can last. However, his plans are disrupted when Glynis announces that she has cancer and desperately needs his health insurance. Lionel Shriver enriches the story with three other medical subplots that explore the human side of the healthcare system. Despite its dark subject matter, So Much for That is a page-turner, that asks important questions about the value of human life, with a surprisingly upbeat ending.

Their Finest Hour and a Half
by Lissa Evans

The Author

Following a brief career in medicine, Lissa Evans spent five years as a producer in BBC Radio Light Entertainment. She then moved to television where her credits as a producer/director include Room 101, Father Ted and the Kumars at Number 42. After a decade of running a red pencil through other people's work, she eventually began to write herself. She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.

Their Finest Hour and a Half is her third novel and is a deliciously black social satire, set against the backdrop of the Second World War.

Praise for Their Finest Hour and a Half

'This is the truest and most enjoyable novel about home-front life I've read; it's touching and hilarious'
Independent on Sunday

The Plot

It is 1940 and France has fallen. Only a narrow strip of sea lies between Great Britain and invasion and the war could go either way. Young coy writer Catrin Cole is drafted in to the Ministry of Information to help 'write the voice of women' in propaganda films.

She is quickly seconded to the Ministry's latest endeavour: a heart-warming tale of bravery and rescue at Dunkirk. It's all completed fabricated, but what does that matter when the nation's morale is at stake?

Since the war has stripped the film industry of its brightest stars, it is left to the jaded and unsuitable to make up the numbers. And in a serious world, with the nation under siege, they must work together to produce a slice of the purest entertainment.