Fiction bending reality in new books by Thomas Pynchon, Olivia Laing and Jeanette Winterson episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 13, 2025 · 54 MIN

Fiction bending reality in new books by Thomas Pynchon, Olivia Laing and Jeanette Winterson

from The Bookshelf · host Australian Broadcasting Corporation

This week, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green take a look at Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket - a cryptic plunge into paranoia and power, where nothing is quite what it seems. Plus, Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book, a shimmering meditation on the cinema scene in 1970s Italy, and Jeanette Winterson’s One Aladdin Two Lamps, which re-imagines duality and the stories we tell ourselves.BOOKSShadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon (Jonathan Cape) The Silver Book by Olivia Laing (Hamish Hamilton) One Aladdin Two Lamps by Jeanette Winterson (Penguin Random House)GUESTSHuw Griffiths — Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School in English and Writing at the University of SydneyClaire Mabey — Founder of New Zealand’s literary festival Verb Wellington, books editor at The Spinoff, and author of the award-winning middle-grade novel The Raven's Eye Runaways. Its sequel, The Raven’s Eye Rebellion, is due in April next year.OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNaomi Arnold, NorthboundNadine Huder, Slowing the SunThomas Mann, Death in VeniceSeán Hewitt, Open HeavenPhilip Pullman, His Dark Materials trilogy - The Rose FieldRuby Tandoh, All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat NowCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan GreenProducer, Cassie McCullagh and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth StewartArts editor, Rhiannon Brown 

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Nov 13, 2025

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Fiction bending reality in new books by Thomas Pynchon, Olivia Laing and Jeanette Winterson

0:00 54:35

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of The Bookshelf?

This episode is 54 minutes long.

When was this The Bookshelf episode published?

This episode was published on November 13, 2025.

Can I download this The Bookshelf episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!