Pod Insights Happy Place Book Club Meets: I wrote a loveable psychopath! Race and female rage, with Imani Thompson About this episode Yrsa really doesn’t intend to kill anyone... but the Cambridge professor sitting opposite her has manipulated her friend and stolen her research. So, when she flicks a bee into his drink, she just thinks he’ll get a nasty little sting... but now he’s dead. And it’s a sweet, sweet feeling for Yrsa: finally having some control...
Honey, written by Imani Thompson, was our Happy Place Book Club read for June. In this chat with Fearne, Imani explains how getting fired from a job was the catalyst she needed to start writing, and just how surreal it feels to have a debut novel published in her 20s.
They also explore the big themes in the novel, including race, intersectional feminism, female anger, and revenge.
In July, we’ll be reading Queenie Is Working On It, by Candice Carty-Williams.
Thank you to The Borough Press for use of the Honey audiobook, narrated by Chloe Sommer.
If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 The thing with being a young black girl is, the world isn't made for you.
0:04 Fearne Cotton? Hello and welcome to the Happy Place Book Club with me, Fern Cotton.
0:08 Speaker 00 You, the textbooks say, didn't accomplish anything until Rosa Parks sat on a bus.
0:14 Fearne Cotton? Today, Honey by Amani Thompson.
0:17 Speaker 00 Can you be quieter, please? Can you be smaller, please?
0:22 Speaker 00 But the thing about the world not being made for you is, you see it for what it is. How the pieces of power slot together. You start to ask, why? Why? And you peel back the histories. You learn that the textbooks don't speak to truth. That F R E E D O M is a word you gave the world. Are we really to believe the slavers got a conscience and liberated the slaves? No, because you did that. But power wants people to forget the part you played. The wars of spirit you started. And you understand, that's the game.
1:05 Speaker 00 So you learn to play the game, to soften your voice and wear your hair neater. You tell the boys, yes, I like it when you touch me like that. You tell the officer, no, sir, I was just walking home. Make them think you're one of them. Make them think you're not onto them.
1:25 Speaker 00 But R E V O L U T I O N isn't a word of the French, or the Americans. It's Caribbean. It's cashew apple sweet on the tongue of Cecil Fatima. You know this. Malcolm X taught you things. Sojourner Truth taught you things. Ain't I a woman? You ask yourself over and over. Because if the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again.
2:04 Speaker 00 The only difference is, Urs is not interested in right side up or wrong side down. She's... well, it's hard to say quite what she's interested in. Call it redemption, call it rage, call it sport.
2:23 Fearne Cotton? Okay, Honey is such an incredible debut novel from Amani Thompson. Yersa really doesn't intend to kill anyone, but the Cambridge professor sitting opposite her has manipulated her friend and stolen her research. So, when she flicks a bee into his drink, she just thinks he'll get a nasty little sting. But now, he's dead, and it's a sweet, sweet feeling for Yersa, finally having some control. I love this book because as a debut novel from Amani, I didn't know so much about her writing or the story, so I just got stuck into the book without really knowing how it was going to unfold. And it unfolds in a way that I was not expecting.
3:05 Fearne Cotton? And it's really clever because it looks at big, big topics that you'll hear about in this conversation with Amani, but it's woven into just a really great intricate story about friendship and university life and British culture and guilt and sociopathy. I mean, there's all sorts in there. But it's just a really brilliant story and the characters really come alive on the page. By the way, it also has a bloody brilliant cover. Obviously, it's pink and I love pink. And it's got a little bee on the front, which, as you've heard from that introduction, is quite a key feature of this story.
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4:22 Fearne Cotton? Right, let's do it. Here's the show.
4:45 Fearne Cotton? I'm Arnie, welcome to Happy Place and thank you for writing this amazing book, which is our pick of the month.
4:52 Speaker 04 Wow, thank you so much for having me and for picking it for the month.
4:55 Fearne Cotton? And look at this gorgeous cover, which actually matches our studio so perfectly.
4:59 Speaker 04 I know, I feel like it's really on colour, like this summer, there's been so much pink everywhere and I'm so here for it.
5:04 Fearne Cotton? It's so good and the font, everything, I absolutely love it. How was that process? Because sometimes when you get a cover presented to you, I'm not sure how involved you were in it, you could be like, oh, that's not it, but this feels very fitting.
5:18 Speaker 04 It was so good. They sent me this cover and I was just like obsessed, that's it. It was like the easiest, it was so easy because I was so stressed about the cover. I was like, what am I going to do if I don't like it?
5:29 Speaker 04 So no, and it was the same in the US too, both covers, I thought they were so strong, the first one they sent me. And yeah, I think the pin to be is just so smart.
5:37 Fearne Cotton? It's so cool. I mean, this has been, I'm imagining, a mad whirlwind. This is your debut book, you're 26?
5:45 Speaker 04 27.
5:45 Fearne Cotton? 27, incredibly young to have a book that has just blown up globally. I mean, how are you taking it all in?
5:53 Speaker 04 Even as you say that, I'm like, no, it hasn't.
5:55 Fearne Cotton? No, it has, it's everywhere.
5:57 Speaker 04 It does feel so surreal. I mean, the whole publishing process has been so surreal because I know how difficult it is to get published. So even like getting the agent and then getting the deals, I just keep thinking like, surely someone's going to wake me up from this.
6:10 Fearne Cotton? It just doesn't feel, it's so brilliant.
6:13 Speaker 04 But I mean, it's amazing. I'm so grateful as well. It's so exciting.
6:17 Fearne Cotton? And you were writing this whilst working, you were working as a bookseller in a bookshop? And then writing in your breaks, in your free time? How are you, how are you doing it?
6:23 Speaker 04 Well, I started writing when I graduated and I had a different job for a while. I was working for a charity in North London and then I actually kind of got fired, which was quite helpful because for three months I was like, I had about 20,000 words at that point and I was like, I'm just going to burn through my savings and finish a draft. And then I started working at Dawn when I was editing and finding an agent. So yeah, most of the editing process happened when I was working as a bookseller.
6:46 Fearne Cotton? So great when you can look back retrospectively and go, oh, that's why I was fired. That's good.
6:51 Speaker 04 Yeah.
6:51 Fearne Cotton? And actually like see the positive of something that probably stung at the time.
6:54 Speaker 04 Yeah, no, it's so true. Yeah, it did stung at the time, but now, yeah, you got a book out of it. So, because I feel, you know, I was so grateful to be able to have that time and to have the savings to have that time. Because if you're working and trying to write, it takes so much to formulate your characters, your plot, that the quiet can be just so helpful.
7:12 Fearne Cotton? Yeah, you want to get totally lost in it and think of nothing else, really. I think I've only obviously written one fiction, but I found when I had other things going on, which was like parenting and a job, I just wanted to be in that world the whole time and sort of get lost in it completely and see, obviously, there's so many different routes that you can go with a book. And I think when you're really in it, that clarity is just there as to where your character's going, where the plot's going, that's a good feeling.
7:42 Speaker 04 It really, really is. And I do feel sometimes I must be quite annoying to people because emails and stuff. Like when you're really in the book world, you do feel like you're living in two entirely different realities. And then you're like so slow to reply to a text. Well, I'm like, I'm so sorry. It's because like, actually, I was off in my mind and my characters were having the whole affair. And like this is going on at this. And yeah, it's, but it's amazing. I love going into the other world.
8:04 Fearne Cotton? Yeah. Well, let's talk about this other world because we've got this extraordinary protagonist, Elsa, who this like switch flips in her head where she goes, I mean, spoiler alert for anyone that's not read it yet, but tough tits, she starts killing people.
8:19 Speaker 04 She does.
8:20 Fearne Cotton? And it starts off in, it's not an innocent way because she kills someone, but in a way that, you know, it was kind of partly accidental. And then things really start to build from there. What drew you to a lead character who has that kind of mindset?
8:37 Speaker 04 So I really didn't think I'd write a book about a serial killer. I like, I'm so shocked that this was my first novel, actually.
8:44 Fearne Cotton? What, what insights this giving us into your psyche?
8:47 Speaker 04 I, I, I'm the type of person, like if a documentary is on the tally about a serial killer, like I leave the house.
8:52 Fearne Cotton? Same.
8:53 Speaker 04 Like, I can't do it. I can't. I never listen to true crime podcasts.
8:56 Fearne Cotton? No.
8:57 Speaker 04 I'm just not.
8:57 Fearne Cotton? But it's different with books.
8:59 Speaker 04 I think it's different, but even then, like I didn't read really dark thrillers. I just kind of like serial killers. I was like, that's not one for me to think about. So the reason the book came about is I knew I wanted to write about race and gender politics. I wanted to look at gender based violence. I knew I wanted a black female protagonist. And when I looked at that space, I thought, that's tricky. That's going to be a hard sell. I want to try and make this book funny. I want to try and make it accessible. I don't want her to be positioned as a victim in this space, which is then it was like, well, maybe instead of being a victim, she could have victims. Uh, so yeah, the idea then came for her, like murdering bad men, but murder is a way to do intersectional feminism. I was like, that's quite a fun plot.
9:38 Fearne Cotton? Yes. And as you said, like you've got racism in there, you've got misogyny, sexism, you've got these big, big themes, but you managed to weave it into this story, which is also about female friendship and dating and uni life. Was that a, a tricky mix to get?
9:55 Speaker 04 It really like wasn't that difficult to be, I think because I knew the university world so well. So that was quite quick and easy to build out. And then, yeah, it's just like a little sprinkling of murder in there. It's like, okay, what I farted you off. Like, sure, you just want to murder someone. So, no, it wasn't too. I think what I was really keen about doing was balancing the real academic side of the book with this much more plotty, like more satirical side of the book. So I wanted to get that line.
10:21 Fearne Cotton? Without a doubt. I mean, there's so many big points that you're mulling over down the line. It's so fascinating. And also it's so interesting to have a character. Who can be unlovable in many ways because of her actions, but also at times you're really rooting for her. Because you say they're not nice men and that's a, I think, a tricky thing to master.
10:42 Speaker 04 Yeah, totally, because I knew it's not going to be very interesting from the off, you don't like her. So I took a lot of inspiration from Killing Eve and characters like Villanelle, who are such lovable psychopaths. So I needed her to be very empathetic and relatable in those ways. And like, again, the dating and the friendship really helped build her relatability out. And then with the men too, they're bad men, but I needed them not to be wholly stereotypical. So with some of them, hopefully you should be feeling whilst reading like, oh, you kind of deserve it, but like, do you deserve it?
11:13 Fearne Cotton? Yeah, it's so interesting. And you say that she's a narcissist and on the psychopathic scale. So that's an interesting mix to to kind of work with again. Do you like her? Did you like her as you were writing her?
11:29 Speaker 04 I do really like her. I feel like she lives so rent free in my head still. Like, once I finished writing the book, I really kind of mentally closed and said, okay, you've got to leave me alone now. But I do occasionally, I'm like, oh, what would, what would you have to do in this situation? Which I think is not a good thing to think, but it's her, it's her humour and also her like willing, her commitment to freedom in a way that I, that's part of her I slightly respect, but I shouldn't really admit this because she is a terrible person.
11:55 Fearne Cotton? No, but I think when it's fiction, you can really have fun with those parts of a character that you know you do not have. Like she can walk away from a situation that we can all say on paper is a terrible thing to do. And she feels nothing?
12:10 Speaker 04 Yeah, largely she'll, she gets a high from it, which, and it was really interesting writing someone who culturally really understands her position and how she's been socialised and the power dynamics around her, but doesn't emotionally engage in the same way. So there is a, there was a liberation to writing her in that. You know, people often say, oh, was it like cathartic to write the killing of bad men? And none of the violence was very cathartic, but her, just her embodiment of her own desires, that was quite cathartic.
12:38 Fearne Cotton? Yeah, I bet. I mean, well, because so often we can't act on the. Impulses we have, all the the thoughts that we have. So imagining that was, I mean, writing should be fun, even if I think you're writing something that's dark. It should be this big exploration. Of course, you went to university, you went to Cambridge and you were originally studying English. But then you moved over to study sociology.
12:59 Speaker 04 That's right.
12:59 Fearne Cotton? So you've got that deep curiosity about the human psyche and how the world works and how humans interact with each other. How much of what you did at uni ended up in this book?
13:09 Speaker 04 So much of it. I mean, in terms of just the academic theory itself and how I quote that. But more so what I love about sociology is it is the why do we do things? You get into the nitty gritty of power structures, where they come from historically, how they've shifted and changed. And that's what yourself is very interested in. It's why she does get a kind of intellectual kick out of this like task that she set herself. So I love sociology for so many different reasons, but I think being a writer, as you say, like going into the depths of a character, it's been so helpful as a topic to study.
13:42 Fearne Cotton? Is she a character you would wanna bring back?
13:45 Speaker 04 I don't know about this. Sometimes I feel like there's no sequel in me, but I do occasionally think like, could there be a prequel? With her mother and her grandmother, because I feel like they're very interesting women.
13:57 Fearne Cotton? Yeah, exactly. Just like see what the root of this was, why she's turned out the way that she has. That could be fascinating. If you were to just go off on a totally different tangent now and write a book, totally unrelated, or maybe you already are, I don't know.
14:12 Speaker 04 I am, yes.
14:13 Fearne Cotton? You are, of course. Can you tell us anything about that? Any themes?
14:17 Speaker 04 Yes. So there's no serial killers in book two. It's set out in Dorset where I grew up and it's also set in the near future. And it's looking at the climate crisis, migration, questions of having kids in these uncertain futures. So yeah, quite different again. And it's interesting too, because Honey is so set in a place and time. There are so many cultural references. But in this book I'm writing now, it's, I don't date anything, so I can't play with those cultural references in the same way. So it's been, I've really enjoyed writing something so different.
14:45 Fearne Cotton? Mmm, I bet. But again, massive topics to get your teeth into.
14:49 Speaker 04 Again, yes. I don't, I don't pick easy topics. Um. But to me, writing isn't about finding the answers necessary to all the questions. I write as a way to kind of write through what I don't understand and just try to explore it. And I know people say about honey, like the endings are a little bit contentious. But I never wanted to answer these big questions that I set up. I don't feel that's necessarily the place of the novel. Like, that's what academic writing does. It's like, here's my neat conclusion.
15:17 Fearne Cotton? Yeah.
15:17 Speaker 04 But in here, I was like, the conclusion is what the reader wants it to be.
15:20 Fearne Cotton? Yeah, and I think that's so fascinating because the topics in there are so huge and so meaty.
15:26 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
15:27 Fearne Cotton? I think for people to then walk away from the book, having read it, and discuss it, and that's what our book club is all about. And to have their own ideas and thoughts, or even discussion points that they can bounce off each other to kind of, you know, chew over it. That's so interesting, rather than, oh, okay, and the conclusion is this.
15:45 Speaker 04 I agree. Like, if someone says to me, I really thought about your book after reading it, like, I couldn't stop thinking or trying to figure out, I'm like, that's perfect. That's what I want from an ending.
15:54 Fearne Cotton? I love that. You've absolutely nailed it.
15:56 Speaker 04 I hope so.
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17:34 Fearne Cotton? So what is your writing process? Obviously, this is your first published book, but I'm, I'm pretty sure you've been playing with ideas and writing for as long as you can hold a pen or open a laptop.
17:45 Speaker 04 I have, yeah.
17:46 Fearne Cotton? What's, what's your kind of process? Is it an idea just lands in your head, then you go with it? How do you write? What time of day do you write? Where do you like to write? I'm, I'm fascinated with the process.
17:55 Speaker 04 I am such a routineless person. So when I had those three months when I was just writing, I was like, you know, I'm going to do the artist's way. I'm going to wake up and do my morning pages, go for a walk, have my coffee, write 500 words. I never do this. I procrastinate literally all day long. And then it hits like anything, clean the flap, go to the shops again, whatever it is. And then it hits around 10pm and I'm like, I better write some words on the page.
18:17 Fearne Cotton? 10pm. Sorry, I have not got a personality at 10pm. My brain stops waking at about 6.
18:22 Speaker 04 This is where my brain really like gets into gear.
18:24 Fearne Cotton? Really, you're a night owl. Okay.
18:25 Speaker 04 And I think, I feel like when people are very morning people, or they're like the night, it's the quiet. I just kind of need the day to like settle down.
18:33 Fearne Cotton? Yeah.
18:33 Speaker 04 Uh, like midday, I'm like, no, I was far too busy. There's too many things going on in the world. I can't write anything. So yeah, I like, I like it to get dark. You like light candle. I always listen to music as well.
18:43 Fearne Cotton? Whilst you're writing, really? Can it have lyrics?
18:45 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, definitely.
18:46 Fearne Cotton? Really?
18:47 Speaker 04 Yeah. Um, and if I'm stuck, often I'll go and I'll listen to a song and I'll like move around to the song to try and get to like the rhythm and the texture of what I'm trying to do.
18:55 Fearne Cotton? And does it have to relate to the book or is it a feeling of the character?
19:00 Speaker 04 It's both. It's like the mood. I write so much based on rhythm. So often it's rhythm that I'm trying to hear. Um. And when characters come to me, it's like the rhythm of the voice that I hear from them. And then I kind of, it's hard to explain, but I know when I'm writing if I'm on beat or off beat. Uh. Yeah, it's like you hear the story.
19:18 Fearne Cotton? That's so cool. I mean, you can totally see that. There's bits of the book where you could have a big old chunk and then you've got a few little separate sentences. And then it's like almost sort of poetry in places. It's beautifully rhythmic.
19:30 Speaker 04 Thank you.
19:30 Fearne Cotton? Wow.
19:31 Speaker 04 I I love poetry. I read a lot of poetry as a kid as well. And this book is super dialogue heavy, which is what's been nice about writing the next one as well, is more prose than dialogue. So like, yeah, the rhythms are different. The songs are different that I listen to.
19:44 Fearne Cotton? Can you think of any songs that really played into to writing Honey?
19:48 Speaker 04 Uh. I do have a whole playlist. There was quite a lot of like Nina Simone on the playlist. There was quite a lot of Beyonce. Like Beyonce's Lemon Age was a big inspiration for a lot of this. And the kind of like the aesthetic of the book as well I had in my mind.
20:02 Fearne Cotton? Nina Simone, I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl is one of my top ten songs of all time.
20:06 Speaker 04 That's on that.
20:07 Fearne Cotton? It's just, there's something about that song that gets me every time.
20:12 Speaker 04 Yeah, I know. It's so great. And there was a moment, the the songs mentioned in the uh book, actually, when she's at home with her mum. And I was riding with my flatmate there and I was like, oh, I need a song. Like, what do you think it could be that she's listening to? And my friend was like Nina Simone's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. I was like, perfect.
20:27 Fearne Cotton? Just that voice. It's just, oh, it's got so much um behind it. I love it. And you have a certain place you like to write. Are you the sort of person that can write in a cafe? Because I don't understand that. You are.
20:37 Speaker 04 I'm quite a cafe writer.
20:39 Fearne Cotton? I I am definitely, I I'm I'm neurodivergent in a way. I must be. I've never been diagnosed, but I, if there is even like a bird tweeting outside, I can't focus. I can't have any sound, but you can do with people like.
20:51 Speaker 04 Hard to find in London, though, like.
20:52 Fearne Cotton? I know. I have to lock myself in a cupboard. So your people are like making coffee, chatting over here, and you can focus?
20:59 Speaker 04 Yes.
20:59 Fearne Cotton? I don't understand.
21:00 Speaker 04 No, I quite like it because I also feel like there's something about being in a cafe where you think, well, I better work.
21:05 Fearne Cotton? Yeah, I like shouldn't scroll Instagram. It's embarrassing. Because people can see me.
21:09 Speaker 04 Like social pressure to be like, by the way, do some work. But I was, because I spend so much time by myself as well, obviously, writing. So it's nice to have the, the sort of company of people around you in a cafe.
21:20 Fearne Cotton? Yes, I do understand that. I think when you have sort of like long days on your own, I do, you know, whether it is writing or if I'm researching podcasts or whatever, I can be on my own and I really like my own company. Or if I'm painting, I love painting. If I'm on my own for a long stretch, I love it. But then I get to the point where I think, I actually don't know how to speak any, like, I think if the postman comes, I won't know how to do that. Like the interaction, you have to make sure you get a bit of a balance.
21:44 Speaker 04 I do, yeah. No, I think I can do like, max, I could do it in a half by myself and then I go quite stir crazy. And I'm like, especially if you're so in your head, as you say, and the work that you're doing, you're like, you know, this is, this is getting bad.
21:57 Fearne Cotton? And what was the first moment you experienced out in the wild, going into a bookshop and seeing honey prominently on a shelf?
22:05 Speaker 04 It was actually so amazing because I went to Dawn Books and I was with a friend, um, because I knew it was going to be there. Which was like so exciting to see it in the window because my friends who worked there had said it. So I was like kind of prepared for this and it was still amazing to see it. And then the friend who I was with, he wanted a book that they didn't have there. So they suggested going to Foils. Because it was pre-publication week. So I was like, it was not going to be in any other bookshops. And we walked into like the main flagship Foils and it was right there, like a huge shelf of it. And yeah, this was actually one of the best moments.
22:36 Fearne Cotton? I mean, what a moment.
22:37 Speaker 04 It was so incredible.
22:38 Fearne Cotton? Did you buy one just for like the process of taking your book to the counter?
22:41 Speaker 04 I actually didn't buy it.
22:43 Fearne Cotton? You have to do it.
22:43 Speaker 04 No, I didn't. I, I mean, I signed lots of them and they were so lovely about it in the bookstore and I like FaceTimed my family. I was like, look at this.
22:50 Fearne Cotton? Of course.
22:50 Speaker 04 Yeah.
22:51 Fearne Cotton? Without a doubt, all the selfies.
22:52 Speaker 04 I mean, it's like amazing still seeing it in the wild. Um, and my dad happened to be in New York that week and he was hand selling it in Barnes and Noble.
22:59 Fearne Cotton? Oh, your dad.
23:00 Speaker 04 Poor customer.
23:01 Fearne Cotton? Heartbroken. That's too cute.
23:03 Speaker 04 And then he'd like go up and he'd be like, well, now you've sold out, you've got to order more.
23:07 Fearne Cotton? That's so good. I love it. There is something so special about seeing it and especially as it is so utterly beautiful.
23:14 Speaker 04 Yes, I know.
23:15 Fearne Cotton? What's the best feedback or comment you've had so far?
23:19 Speaker 04 Oh, I don't know. One of the funniest was my grandad read the book, even though I said, please, please don't, don't read the book. And after reading it, he just goes to my mum. But how does she know these things?
23:30 Fearne Cotton? Oh, bless him.
23:32 Speaker 04 I know. So I need to apologize to him for everything he read. Totally, yes.
23:37 Fearne Cotton? That's grandparents. That's their role. That's adorable. Well, look, we are so chuffed to be discussing honey and dissecting it and having people throughout these interesting subject matters and talk about it in our book club. Thank you so much for writing it. I cannot wait to see what you do next and read your following books because it is utterly genius. Amani, thank you so much for being on Happy Place. Oh, I forgot the most important question.
24:02 Speaker 04 Yes.
24:02 Fearne Cotton? Where is your happy place?
24:04 Speaker 04 Oh, oh, probably down in Dorset.
24:09 Fearne Cotton? Whereabouts?
24:10 Speaker 04 Um, well, I've been thinking one of the beaches. So maybe like Ringstead.
24:13 Fearne Cotton? I love Ringstead.
24:14 Speaker 04 A beautiful summer's evening. You know, when the evening just feels so long and endless and you're at the beach and you've got some food and you've got your friends.
24:21 Fearne Cotton? Oh, that's the best. Ringstead's a bit of a local one, isn't it? It's like, it's not, it's not the tourist beach.
24:26 Speaker 04 I know. Oh, now I feel like I shouldn't have said it.
24:29 Fearne Cotton? Just any beach in Dorset. Pick your beach. It's a beautiful place to choose. Amani, thank you so much.
24:36 Speaker 04 No, thank you.
24:38 Fearne Cotton? Oh, thank you, Amani. God, sort of intimidated by how Amani is just so unbelievably clever and driven and articulate. Um, and I could kind of be her mum. I mean, maybe not her mum, but just someone in her twenties, so impressive. And that's not to be demeaning to anyone else in their twenties, obviously. It doesn't matter about age, but she's already achieved so much, having this book published and having such creative genius and writing skill. She's just an absolute wonder. Amani, thank you so much for your time. Right, we're heading into a new month, which of course means a new book for us all to read in the Happy Place Book Club. In July,
25:20 Fearne Cotton? we're going to be reading Queenie is Working on It by Candice Carty-Williams.
25:27 Fearne Cotton? Ah, this book. I love it. This is the much anticipated follow up to 2019's Queenie, which I also loved. This time, Queenie Jenkins is questioning whether she wants kids and being priced out of the housing market in the place she grew up, as well as coping with horrible heartbreak. Now, these characters, I actually messaged her the other day on Instagram because I said, I now walk around the streets believing that these characters are out there. They are so real. I was completely in Queenie's world the whole way through this book. You're gonna absolutely love it. It was just great escapism for me. And if you've already read it, or you've started it, you'll know what I mean by saying, TFL guy has literally lived rent free in my head,
26:11 Fearne Cotton? and I don't like him. He wound me up something rotten. You are gonna love this book. I would love it if you came and chatted about this gorgeous novel on Instagram. It's at Happy Place Book Club. There's loads more behind the scenes stuff there, too, from our wonderful authors, and we just nerd out about books in general. Right, until next time, a massive thanks again to Amani and to you. You're the best, you lovely bookworms.
26:56 Fearne Cotton? Happy Place is researched by me, Fern Cotton. The producer is Anushka Tate at Happy Place Studios, with studio engineering by Basil Oxtaby.
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27:37 Speaker 02 Hello, this is Suzy Ruffel.
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