Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Join Kerry for a show packed with classic tracks, current hits and features on films, books and food.

1 hour, 57 minutes

Last on

Tue 24 Feb 2015 15:03

Music Played

  • Brad Paisley

    The Mona Lisa

  • ABBA

    Lay All Your Love On Me

  • ´Ü´Çë

    Sunshine On A Rainy Day

  • The Velvelettes

    Really Saying Something

  • T. Rex

    20th Century Boy

  • Aretha Franklin

    Respect

  • Matchbox

    Rockabilly Rebel

  • Jason Aldean

    Miss That Girl

  • Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett

    The Lady Is A Tramp

  • Time After Time

  • Sister Sledge

    Lost In Music

  • Faces

    Stay with Me

  • Dennis Waterman

    I Could Be So Good For You

  • Roxette

    Dressed For Success

  • Oasis

    Wonderwall

  • Eurythmics

    The Miracle Of Love

  • Whitney Houston

    How Will I Know

  • Queen

    Don't Stop Me Now

  • The Drifters

    Save The Last Dance For Me

  • Olly Murs

    Wrapped Up (feat. Travie McCoy)

  • Rupert Holmes

    Escape

    • The Pina Colada Song.

KERRY'S BOOK CLUB

Paul Clements on The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Fourth Estate)

Synopsis: Story of a blind girl in France, Marie-Laure and a boy, Werner Pfennig, in Germany. It tells of their parallel lives, written through time-switching covering a 10 year period from 1934 to 1944.

It follows them from the ages of 6 to 16, moving from childhood to adulthood as well as the people in their lives, family and friends with many twists and turns – it is a coming of age story as well.

The book opens in Saint Malo in Brittany in August 1944, 2 months after D-Day, but it is still being shelled by the Germans. The book includes some very graphic descriptions of the war.

Section and chapter breakdowns


The book flits back and forward in 13 different sections telling their story in alternating chapters. Each section is well signposted and states the month and year so there is no confusion in the to-ing and fro-ing. All the time you're left wondering will they meet? And we don't find out the answer until much later. This in particular held my interest and kept me wanting to read on.

The author is a descriptive and insightful writer, with precise and sensory detail and excellent use of sound effects. Because the girl is blind her other senses are heightened, especially sounds and smells.

The book is written in a tight style with short sentences and short chapters of a few pages, little vignettes, which leave the reader guessing about what is coming next – so it is absorbing. It is filled with drama, sad moments, and expectation and hope and much more.

He is a gifted storyteller and lyrical writer – in fact almost poetic in style in places. I like this as you don't often find that in fiction (in my experience).

Some readers may not like all the descriptive detail, it might be a bit overwrought for some, and too long for others, but I did enjoy it. It is lyrical, original, distinctive writing and free of clichés.

The author is very good at capturing the spirit of the place, painting a picture of what an area of city is like, through small incidental details, called grace notes which might be to do with nature or the weather, rainstorms, or bird life.

Quite a moving book – historical fiction is a very big area of writing. I won't say what happens at the end so as not to spoil it for listeners and readers, but it is a surprise.
Title comes from the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that are beyond our ability to see

Broadcast

  • Tue 24 Feb 2015 15:03

What are you cooking tonight?

Want to spice up your culinary skills? Get inspiration from Kerry's Recipe Collection