Whitcoulls Recommends: Five and Famesick

Five by Ilona Bannister. This is a highly entertaining and cleverly constructed thriller based on the premise that on a suburban train station one morning there are five minutes until the next train, five passengers waiting, and five minutes until one of them dies. The narrative gives the story of each of these people so that you develop a real understanding of them, all the while wondering which of them will be the unlucky one, and it effectively makes the reader become the judge, jury and executioner. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Famesick by Lena Dunham. Lena Dunham became extremely famous in her early 20’s as the writer and lead actor in the TV series Girls and has maintained a high profile since. Her memoir is fascinating - she’s struggled with debilitating sickness for much of her life and survived addictions, celebrity and a fair amount of public humiliation - all whilst working frenetically, displaying early and rare talent, and she puts it all on the page in this book which I couldn’t put down. She’s a very talented writer and her own life has given her a remarkable canvas against which to tell her story.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.