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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast

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Speaker 1: from Newstalks The B two twelve. Time to get your

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Speaker 1: book picks for this weekend. Katherine Rains as our book reviewer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, morning Jack.

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Speaker 1: Let's begin this morning with The Secret Book Society by

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Speaker 1: Madeline Martin.

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Speaker 2: So this is a historical novel set in eighteen ninety

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Speaker 2: five Victorian London, and it's about a forbidden book club

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Speaker 2: and the dangerous secrets and the woman who dare to

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Speaker 2: kind of break the societal rules. And the book almost

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Speaker 2: starts at the end, which is always an interesting way

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Speaker 2: to start, and you have this woman called Lady Duxbury,

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Speaker 2: and she finds out that a friend's been sent to

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Speaker 2: asylum by her husband. But then we go back to

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Speaker 2: the start and she started this Lady's Tea to assist

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Speaker 2: women in society who's been restricted by the controlling men

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Speaker 2: in their lives, and she offers them access to her

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Speaker 2: library as most women are forbidden from reading fictional novels

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Speaker 2: and things to improve themselves. And these women age are

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Speaker 2: from their late teens on and they receive invitations at

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Speaker 2: their homes like Rosie Wharton and Livin There Cavendish and

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Speaker 2: Elan or Clark get the invitations and they jump at

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Speaker 2: the chance, and you know, it's allowing them to really

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Speaker 2: be theirselves and drop the false pretenses, able to read

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Speaker 2: what they want because Lady Dutchby's given them the ability

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Speaker 2: and understand how difficult their lives have been. And it's

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Speaker 2: a really interesting portrayal of their life during eighteen hundreds,

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Speaker 2: and that detail and the dialogue really makes you feel

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Speaker 2: like you're there. But also how the upper kind of

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Speaker 2: parts of society were treated in their marriage and the

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Speaker 2: controlling and you know, and these women didn't you know,

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Speaker 2: women who didn't control were often sent to the same

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Speaker 2: asylums or mental institutions. And so what you've got is

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Speaker 2: this book about friendship and caring and kindness. It's really

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Speaker 2: a comparative narrative of the time. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Great, Okay, that's the secret book Society My Bent by

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Speaker 1: Madeline Martin. Now mckheran is back. He is the author

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Speaker 1: of the slough House series, which is the series that's

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Speaker 1: inspired Slow Horses, that amazing TV show. He's got a

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Speaker 1: new book called clown Town.

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Speaker 2: So yes, if you're a fan of Slow Horses, then

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Speaker 2: you'll love this book. So we're at Slowhouse and there's

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Speaker 2: a bunch of spies have been sent there because they've

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Speaker 2: blotted their copy books, and Canton Standish and river Cartwrite

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Speaker 2: and Roddy Hole a part of that, and river Cartlite

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Speaker 2: has been poisoned for snother chopped by the Russians. And

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Speaker 2: he's hoping to return to work soon and he's waiting

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Speaker 2: for his medical assessment, but at the time he's kind

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Speaker 2: of need something to do. So he's taken on his

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Speaker 2: grandfather's extensive library and he's transferring the information to the

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Speaker 2: Spies College. And one item's missing, one book, and he

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Speaker 2: can't find it, but he knows that it's there because

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Speaker 2: he's seen a photo taken on his phone, and it

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Speaker 2: transpires that it's not a book but a dummy book

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Speaker 2: disguised as a book and which secrets can be hidden,

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Speaker 2: and now someone else has it, and you know, secrets

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Speaker 2: that were important for his grandfather to hide, and that

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Speaker 2: kind of starts him down on this really interesting mystery.

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Speaker 2: And then in another tangent, there's this blackmail that's got

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Speaker 2: to the first desk of m I five and a

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Speaker 2: woman called Diana at Tabana into her back ops mode

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Speaker 2: and she's kind of trying to find out what's going on,

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Speaker 2: and she's in charge and clinging to power and with

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Speaker 2: this iron grip. And then there's this man, Jackson Lamb,

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Speaker 2: and he's really the main protagonist, and he's kind of

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Speaker 2: mining his own business, drinking whiskey by the tumble fill,

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Speaker 2: drinking a lot of smoking a lot of cigarettes, and

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Speaker 2: eating some dodgy takeaways. And it's very funny. The woodiest

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Speaker 2: pointed the Dialogu's pointed and saulting and very witty, and

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Speaker 2: he's focused on kind of working out what's going on

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Speaker 2: with this really lazer precision. I've got lots of themes

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Speaker 2: in the story about redemption and betrayal and loyalty, and

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Speaker 2: everybody in this place will kind of eventually betrayal, will

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Speaker 2: be betrayed, and it kind of comes with the territory.

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Speaker 2: But it's really well plotted and a tale that's kind

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Speaker 2: of really timely and interested and entertained.

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Speaker 1: Ah so good. I love slow horses. So I've got

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Speaker 1: to get into the slough House series. That sounds fantastic.

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Speaker 1: So that's Mchern's clown Town. Catherine's first book, The Secret

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Speaker 1: Book Society by Madeline Martin. All the details for those,

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Speaker 1: of course, will be up on the News Talks be

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Speaker 1: website for more.

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Speaker 2: From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to News

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Speaker 2: Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or follow the

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Speaker 2: podcast on iHeartRadio