In this month’s Book Club episode, Julia Gillard and her co-host Kathy Lette discuss May We Feed the King, the debut fiction novel from British poet Rebecca Perry.
The novel won Waterstone’s Debut Fiction Prize and has been shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize.
The novel tells the story of a curator, who dresses the rooms of historic buildings using furniture, ornaments and fake food. While working in a medieval palace, the curator becomes transfixed by the reign of a reluctant and mostly forgotten King.
As readers are taken back to the time of the King, Perry poses questions about how history is recorded, who it’s determined by and what makes a good leader.
Julia and Kathy discuss how Perry’s talents as a poet shine through in the beautiful prose, what they look for in a fiction novel and how some elements of this book did not resonate with them.
Show notes:
May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry is published in Australia by Allen and Unwin.
To find out more about the Booker Prize visit https://thebookerprizes.com/
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