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The Story

2023's best books: Victorian sex, apocalypse and Prince Harry

Our literary editors give us the lowdown on what they’ve been reading this last year - from steamy sex to the end of the world - and what should be on your Christmas gift list.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guests:

  • Robbie Millen, Literary Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times.
  • Johanna Thomas-Corr, Chief Literary Critic, The Times and The Sunday Times.

Host: Luke Jones

For the full list of Times & Sunday Times best books of the year, read more: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-books-2023-gmbb8spb3 

You can buy every book on the list at timesbookshop.co.uk

Prophet Song - Paul Lynch

The Wren, The Wren - Anne Enright

Ordinary Human Failings - Megan Nolan

The Bee Sting - Paul Murray

Old God’s Time - Sebastian Barry

Soldier Sailor - Claire Kilroy

The Future - Naomi Alderman

Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton

Fire Weather - John Vaillant

Politics on the Edge - Rory Stewart

But What Can I Do? - Alastair Campbell

How Westminster Works… And Why It Doesn’t - Ian Dunt

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

The New Life - Tom Crewe

Spare - Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

The Woman In Me - Britney Spears

My Name Is Barbra - Barbra Streisand

Paris: The Memoir - Paris Hilton

Erotic Vagrancy - Roger Lewis

The Earth Transformed - Peter Frankopan

Pathogenesis - Jonathan Kennedy

Eve - Cat Bohannon

The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst

Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

Long Island - Colm Tóibín

Knife - Salman Rushdie

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