On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, we welcome Irish novelist Chloe Michelle Howarth. Best known for her debut novel Sunburn — a tender, searing portrait of queer adolescence and forbidden love — Chloe captured readers with her ability to balance delicacy and emotional intensity.
Sunburn was shortlisted for the 2024 Polari First Book Prize, the 2024 Book Awards: Discover Award, and the 2023 Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction, earning its place as a quiet cult classic among contemporary literary readers.
But in this episode of Current Read, we turn our attention to her second novel, Heap Earth Upon It — a multi-perspective family drama set in 1960s rural Ireland. Retaining Howarth’s poetic lyricism while stepping away from the teenage nostalgia of her debut, this novel dives into themes of repression, longing, and the shadows of family history, pulling readers into a darker, more atmospheric world with the intrigue of a literary thriller.
Chloe joins us to talk about her writing process, the atmospheric Irish countryside that shapes her fiction, and the thematic threads she wanted to explore in Heap Earth Upon It.
And as always on TGE’s Current Read, we get:
🖤 A special reading from the author
🤍 A peek at what’s on her current TBR
🖤 A hint of what Chloe is working on next
🎙️ Subscribe to TGE’s Current Read for more conversations with today’s most exciting authors.
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#ChloeMichelleHowarth #HeapEarthUponIt #Sunburn #IrishFiction #LiteraryFiction #QueerFiction #BookPodcast #WritersLife #TheGreatEqualizer #CurrentRead #BookTube #BookLovers #ReadingCommunity #AuthorInterview #NewBooks #IrishWriters #LiteraryPodcast
This episode of TGE’s Current Read was brought to you in part by Jonathan Ball Publishers.
On this episode of TGE’s Current Read we welcome back international bestselling author Cecelia Ahern, who is currently promoting her latest novel, Paper Heart.
Paper Heart is a story about dreams, having the courage to turn them into a reality, and being brave enough to open your heart to the possibility of love and truly living.
We meet Pip – a passenger in her own story – whose life has been grounded and largely uneventful since she had her daughter, Bella, at 16. Having shamed her parents by being a pregnant teen, Pip hands over the reins to her controlling mother, becoming trapped in a life empty of the hopes and dreams she once aspired to.
Much like the origami poems Pip so diligently writes and folds away, Pip is made smaller by circumstance, but begins to unfold over the course of the novel, opening herself up to realise that the world is bigger than her small-town setting, that life has so much more to offer her.
Cecelia chats with Sam about what inspired Pip’s character, what made the author weave in the golden thread of origami art, and what motivated her to write a novel about the many ways we dig – ‘physically into the earth, mentally and spiritually into the sky and universe, and emotionally into our own hearts’.
We’re also treated to a reading by the author and get a sneak peek into what Cecelia is currently reading and, of course, what she’s working on next.
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#CeceliaAhern #PaperHeart #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #BookTube #FictionBooks #ContemporaryFiction #CurrentReadPodcast #BookDiscussion #ReadersLif
This episode of TGE’s Current Read was brought to you in part by Jonathan Ball Publishers.
On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, Sam Herbst welcomes award-winning Indian-British author Gurnaik Johal for an in-depth author interview. No stranger to fiction, Gurnaik won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2022 for his short story collection, We Move, among other accolades.
Now venturing into the realm of longform fiction, Gurnaik’s debut novel Saraswati has been listed among Observer’s Best Debut Novels for 2025 and was a finalist for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize.
Described as “an ambitious panoramic portrait” (The Guardian) and a “roaring deluge of a novel” (Jon McGregor), Saraswati connects the lives of seven distant relatives whose ancestors were all named after different tributaries of Northern India’s holy Saraswati river.
In this conversation, Gurnaik shares the genesis of Saraswati – the seed that sprouted this sprawling story. He also reflects on his passion for folktales in fiction, his place within the Indian diaspora literature tradition, the sociopolitical themes his work explores, and how the dystopian elements in Saraswati became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As with every Current Read episode, we enjoy a live author reading and chat about Gurnaik’s latest inspirations and creative process.
Join us for this literary podcast discussion, and let us know what you think of the episode.
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#GurnaikJohal #SaraswatiNovel #AuthorInterview #ContemporaryFiction #CurrentRead #DebutNovels2025 #IndianDiasporaLiterature
This episode of TGE’s Current Read was brought to you in part by Jonathan Ball Publishers.
On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, we chat with author Liane Child, whose addictive new thriller, The Tradwife’s Secret, will have you turning the pages well into the wee hours, with a twist you probably won’t see coming.
This is a novel that, according to one reviewer, reads like an episode right out of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Aside from being a good old-fashioned domestic romp, it scratches a very particular itch for anyone familiar (read: obsessed) with the explosive – and divisive – trad wife phenomenon. If this is you, you’ve probably had one too many Nara Smith midnight scrolls, or ventured into the Hannah Neeleman Ballerina Farm rabbit hole and come back to tell the tale.
Sound familiar? Then this book is the one for you.
Against the backdrop of a fun and fast-paced thriller, Liane Child unpacks some major overarching themes – right-wing conservatism, pro-family/anti-feminist values, and the pitfalls of living your life online (or taking life advice from people who do). It’s a book that lightens the mood around particularly divisive topics while using fiction to shed light on the problematic nature of the trad wife trend, and why it’s so enticing.
Sam and Charlene touch base with the author about her personal obsession with the trad wife trend and why she decided to write a book about it. Avoiding spoilers, we chat about characters, plot, and setting, as well as why 'domestic thriller' was the perfect genre for this tale.Join us as we deep-dive into the wild world of Montana-based influencer Ms Madison March and – as always – let us know what you think of this episode.
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#DomesticThriller #ThrillerBooks #PsychologicalThriller #NewBookRelease #TradWife #TradWifeTrend #TraditionalWife #FemininityMovement #CurrentRead #MotherhoodUnplugged
This episode of TGE’s Current Read was brought to you in part by Jonathan Ball Publishers.
NB links:
Tune into a previous discussion on The Great Equalizer about Tradwives and professional girlfriends (the #nojudgies deep dive):
https://youtu.be/lpj5w230RS0?si=CGtFtD35YAoGWZWR
On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, your host Sam Herbst chats with Holly Brickley, one of this year’s HOTTEST new authors, whose debut novel Deep Cuts has already made Hollywood inroads. Silver screen stars Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler have already been named as the leads in A24’s film adaptation, with the progressive film company set to start production on the movie soon (if not already!) having snatched up rights long before the novel’s official publication date.However, behind MANY a great movie is – of course – an even greater book. We are so privileged to have Holly join us on the pod to chat about her writing journey, what inspired her novel, and why she set it against the very unique backdrop of the early 2000s music industry.With an accompanying Spotify playlist (of course), Deep Cuts is SO Millennials-coded, tapping into 90s and noughties nostalgia that’ll have you going back to the CD burns of your carefree high school days. Even so, this novel does so well to bridge the generational gap, appealing to Ben Xers and Gen Zers all the same, with infuriatingly relatable and lovable characters that stay with you long after the final chapter. Tune in for more from the author and a BTS look into the makings of our generation’s next pop culture phenomenon. If you loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow and David Nicholls’ One Day, this debut novel is right up your alley, and this hot new author is ONE. TO. WATCH.__🖤 LISTEN 💛 LIKE 🖤 SHARE 💛 SUBSCRIBEAnd tell us what you think of the episode 🫶🏽__#booktube #bookrecs #bookstagram #debutnovel #deepcuts #2000s #earlyaughts #popculture #musicindustry #A24 #hollybrickley #lovestory #romcom #firstlove @A24@jonathanballpublishers2050
Joining hosts Sam and Charlene on this episode of TGE's Current Read is licensed marriage and family therapist – and founder of the popular Conscious Mommy community on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok – Bryana Kappadakunnel.
Bryana’s book, Parent Yourself First, gives readers a look into how your upbringing is probably impacting your parenting style in ways you don't even fully recognise: from how you manage your own emotions to how you connect with your kids in their vulnerable moments.
According to Bryana, the secret to successful parenting is to unlearn the wounded patterns you grew up with and create new ways to connect with your child.
As the book acknowledges, many of us did not have a perfect childhood. BUT, through intentionality and mindfulness, this powerhouse therapist and conscious parenting expert has helped many parents transform into the parent they were always meant to be.
With rich insight and expert parenting support, Bryana Kappadakunnal, AKA Conscious Mommy, has condensed more than a decade's worth of knowledge into a reference book jam-packed with personal parenting stories, relatable anecdotes, and a user-friendly toolkit to mindful parenting.
Join us on a wild ride of self discovery and inner child healing, which was much more emotional (in a good way!) than we anticipated.
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And tell us what you think of the episode 🫶🏽
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#consciousparenting #consciousparent #parentingpodcast #innerchild #innerchildhealing #innerchildwounds #shadowwork #motherhood #parentingpodcast #booktube #parentingbooks
On this episode of TGE’s Current Read, Sam speaks to New York Times bestselling author Abigail Dean about her latest novel, The Death of Us.
Best known for her first novel Girl A, which was a runaway success and an instant bestseller, Abigail’s writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, the Times and the New York Times.
The former lawyer is also the author of Day On, with The Death of Us soon to grace the nightstands of reader the world over.
A captivating portrait of a marriage and its implosion, The Death of Us digs into the stories we tell ourselves about love — and everything love can bear.
It is possibly one of the most hauntingly accurate love stories in popular fiction today, with the page-turning qualities of Stephen King, and the devastating depth of a Sally Rooney.
This is an examination of the human condition at its finest, and an exploration of life, living and relationships after trauma.
Please join us for this fascinating discussion with one of the most astute authors we’ve interviewed to date.
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And tell us what you think of the episode 📚
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For more on The Death of Us, here’s the blurb:
It’s the night we never talk about.
It’s the story the world wants to hear.
But this isn’t the story of that night. This is the story of us.
Together, Edward and Isabel move to London. They are young and in love, occupied by friends, work and fun.
But late on a spring evening when they are thirty years old, their home is invaded by a serial killer.
In the wake of this violation, each tries to come to terms with a night that changed everything — and their marriage begins to crumble.
Twenty-five years later, their tormentor is caught, and Edward and Isabel reunite for his sentencing.
Isabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be brought to justice. Edward has tried to think about anything else. As they prepare to deliver impact statements in the public eye, it is time to revisit their love story.
Will they finally be able to confront the secrets, longings and lies that tore them apart?
Or will the horror of that night be the death of them?
