This week’s episode is for our listeners who love historical fiction. Mother’s Boy by Patrick Gale is a finely wrought novel that centres around Cornwall, class, desire and two world wars. Based on the life of poet Charles Causley, Mother’s Boy is the story of a man who is among, yet apart from, his fellows. Charles is being shaped for a long, remarkable and revered life spent hiding in plain sight.

As an intensely private young man, Charles joins the navy with the new rank of coder. His escape from the tight, gossipy confines of Launceston to the colour and violence of war sees him blossom as he experiences not only the possibility of death, but the constant danger of a love that is as clandestine as his work.

Mother’s Boy is published by Headline and available now. We recommend buying from your local indie or you can get a copy from our shop at Bookshop.org.

Podcast produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman. Programmed by Matt Casbourne.

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