'The Merge' by Grace Walker

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.