On this episode the LitFest team are talking about the books that might not get the full page erudite book reviews by venerated critics, but what they do get is a 5/5 for unputdownability. And luckily, these authors are all coming to the Emirates LItFest is February.

Authors and books include:

My Heart is a Chainsaw, by Stephen Graham Jones

Nivea Serrao recommends this beautifully written horror novel.

Sleepyhead, by Mark Billingham

Funny and horrific in equal measures, this is the first outing for DI Tom Thorne, and the start of a 17 book series of bestsellers.

The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley

A snowed-in murder mystery with toxic friendships? Yes please, says Andrea.

The Bridgerton series, by Julia Quinn

You may have seen the series, but the books are, as always, better. Each book has a different sibling as protagonist, and Nivea particularly recommends The Viscount Who Loved Me.

Yesterday, by Felicia Yap

This speculative fiction and crime mash-up asks, how do you solve a murder when you only remember yesterday?

About us:

Andrea Gissdal is the Head of Communications and Marketing for the Emirates Literature Foundation. From a voracious and indiscriminate reader as a child, to a part time bookseller as a student, as an adult she has become a literary omnivore but with a preference for fiction. She also dabbles in creative writing, and once scored 82 points in one move in Scrabble. Best day ever.

Annabelle Corton is the English Programme Manager at the Emirates Literature Foundation. She runs the Festival Book Club and has a background in guesting and presenting on talk radio shows about various literary topics. She likes words like ‘equinox’ and ‘vespa’, and loves a good pun. She’ll read anything in reach, but has a fondness for witty tussles of good vs. evil on page and screen, especially vampire fiction where a great deal is at stake. Get it? Stake? ….She’s not sorry.