Between The Lines Podcast

Hi friends,When I renewed my vows earlier this year, I wrapped up books as gifts for our guests, each with a little mystery blurb on the front. On The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Baines, I simply wrote: my favourite book of 2025.So you can imagine how excited we were to sit down with its author, Sarah Clutton, to talk about her new novel. Even better, Sarah is joining our Book Club to discuss it with members.The bookThe Bookshop of Buried Pasts opens with Phyllida Banks, 80 years old and adored in the little Southern Highlands village of Brookbank, where her antiquarian bookshop is the heart of everything. When Phyllida is suddenly gone, her granddaughter Lottie finds a letter asking her to track down someone called Frances, and a fortune no one can explain. The trail leads all the way to Cambridgeshire, to another village bookshop with eerie similarities to their own, and to a mystery that has baffled police for fifty years.It made us both wonder: what wild things did our nanas get up to that we’ll never know about?We loved Phyllida. She’s curious, wise and endlessly interested in people, the kind of 80-year-old we’d all want to be friends with. Chelle fell for Sienna, a 13-year-old firecracker who keeps every conversation on its toes. And if, like Chelle, you hunt down any book set in a bookshop, this one’s for you. The bookshop itself even narrates the opening and closing chapters.A small tip: there are a few timelines and points of view, so give it a few chapters to settle in. Once it clicks, it’s a warm, funny, hopeful mystery that’s hard to put down.From our conversationSarah lives in Berrima, in a region that was Australia’s first book town. She spent months sitting with the late antiquarian book dealer Leo Berkelouw while helping with his memoir, which is how Phyllida came to be a book dealer. In early drafts, Sarah told us, Phyllida “wasn’t someone who just retires”, and once she became a book dealer the whole story fell into place.Phyllida is based on Sarah’s own grandmother, who could make three new friends on a two-hour train trip. Phyllida also has “the knowing”, a deep intuition passed down from her herbalist grandmother. That led to a lovely conversation about how often women are taught to override their gut feelings, and Chelle shared how much it meant to see that represented on the page.And our favourite moment? Sarah told us why she writes:“I just wanted to roll in the heather and have ginger beer and go on a mystery... That’s what I like to try to recreate for adults.” - Sarah CluttonAudiobook lovers: Annabelle Tudor’s narration is spectacular. She voices everyone from an 80-year-old Phyllida to a posh Englishwoman.Read along with usThe Bookshop of Buried Pasts is our Book Club pick, and Sarah is joining members for a discussion where spoilers are finally allowed. One member has already emailed to say she did not like a certain character, and we can’t wait to unpack that with Sarah.Book my spotHappy reading,Leanne & Chelle This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit betweenthelinesaustralia.substack.com

Three years missing. Two sisters searching. And something in the forest that doesn’t want to be found.In this episode, Leanne and Chelle talk with Holly Craig about her new novel Find Me, an eerie, atmospheric thriller set in the Tasmanian wilderness. When Pete vanishes on Mount Mercy, the official search is called off within weeks. Three years later, their mother’s dying wish brings estranged sisters Hallie and Gertie back to the mountain to find him. Their first stop is the Peakers, a secretive commune who were the last people to see Pete alive.“The minute you see that monster or that person or whoever, that dread just diminishes straight away. So it’s best to leave it right to the end.” — Holly CraigHolly tells us how she set out to write something creepier than her earlier thrillers, with creepy forest horror music playing on YouTube the whole time. She also explains why her partner’s observation about Jaws shaped the book: the scariest thing is that you never see the shark. We talk about why Tasmania’s remoteness, ancient trees and local folklore made it the perfect setting. And we hear how Holly’s agent suggested she write about sisters instead of a couple, because sisters “trigger each other all the way through your life.”Chelle admits she read the climax alone at night, surrounded by windows. Leanne’s 12-year-old banned any more read-alouds after that giggle scene.Don’t let the spooky vibe put you off if horror isn’t usually your thing. There’s mystery, grief, a touch of romance, and a twist we didn’t see coming.About Holly CraigHolly Craig grew up on boats and on Rottnest Island off the West Australian coast. That setting inspired her number one bestselling debut, The Shallows, and her second novel, The Rip. She’s also the author of the Audible Original Mayday. Holly is a former English teacher and now runs The Write Club, which she describes as Australia’s biggest writing community, helping women write their novels for publication. Her next novel is due out next year.* Website: https://hollycraig.com/* Instagram: @hollycraigauthor* The Write Club: https://hollycraig.com/the-write-club/* Buy the book: Simon & SchusterLove talking books with authors like Holly? Join the Between The Lines Book Club to read along with us, meet authors at live events, and connect with a community of readers who see reading as self-care. BOOK MY SPOT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit betweenthelinesaustralia.substack.com

We met Naima Brown at the Brisbane Writers Festival, where we saw her on two panels and then fangirled in the signing line. So we were very excited to keep that conversation going on the podcast.The Cruise is Mission One in Naima’s Squad series. The squad is a global network of women who have each survived male violence. They tried to find justice “by the book” and found the systems were never built to protect them. Now they carry out missions to take down the monsters from their pasts. Bailey Collins is producing season two of a battle-of-the-sexes reality show when an audition tape arrives from Eli Murphy, the man who harmed her in high school. So she casts him, then fills the five female places with members of the squad. In other words, she stacks the deck.In this episode we talk about:* Why this book feels like it belongs to all women, and why Naima writes “Welcome to the squad” in every copy she signs.* Revenge in fiction, justice in life: “In fiction, I want revenge.” Naima explains why the fantasy part of revenge fantasy is so cathartic, and why the book gives readers somewhere to direct their anger.* Chelle’s perfect recipe: reality TV, cruising and women’s rage, finally given space after years of being told to sit still and be polite.* The “mad woman” genre: why all of Naima’s novels, from The Shot to Mother Tongue to The Cruise, are about women who decide to blow up their lives and start over.* Bailey, a complex, flawed heroine who is still piecing together her own memory of what happened to her.* Protection, not just revenge, and whether forgiveness should ever replace justice.* Telling each other the truth. We revisit a line from the festival that stayed with us: “Women protect each other when they talk about the reality of their lives.”* Joy as part of the mission: Gianna, the host of The Cruise show, reminds the squad that “joy is the proof that we’re still here”.Naima’s T-shirt said “full of whimsy and rage”, and that sums up this book. Get yours here. At BWF she wore one that says “Stop Killing Women”, and that’s here. What’s next for the squad: The Honey Trap (Mission Two) is out in June 2027, and you can read chapter one at the end of The Cruise. The Mentor (Mission Three) follows in 2028.About Naima BrownNaima Brown is the author of The Shot, Mother Tongue and The Cruise, the first book in the Squad series.* Instagram: @naima_brown_official* Buy the book: Allen & Unwin* Substack: Naima Brown Love talking books with authors like Naima? Join the Between The Lines Book Club to read along with us, meet authors at live events, and connect with a community of readers who see reading as self-care. BOOK MY SPOT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit betweenthelinesaustralia.substack.com

In this episode, Leanne and Chelle talk with Kimberley Allsopp about her second novel. It follows August and Noah, a Brisbane couple who have been together for over a decade. Nothing has gone terribly wrong: no cheating, no villain, no big drama. Things are just… fine. But what happens when fine isn’t enough?Kimberley tells us why she wanted to explore what comes after the point where most rom-coms finish. We also talk about the milk. Who notices when it’s running low? Who remembers to buy more? It’s a small detail in the book that says a lot about how the mental load in a relationship so often falls to one person. Her agent asked for less milk talk, and Kimberley refused.Kimberley is also very funny. She tells us about a possum that ate her lemon before she could photograph it for publication day, and about how hard it is to come up with book titles that don’t sound like Taylor Swift songs.And Chelle shares her favourite line from the book, which had us both nodding: “There was never a break from being a woman.”About Kimberley AllsoppKimberley is the author of Love and Other Puzzles and Rise and Shine. She has worked in bookselling and publishing since 2008 and is a campaign manager at HarperCollins. She lives in Brisbane.* Instagram: @kimberleyallsopp* Buy the book: BooktopiaRead along with usWant to talk books with authors like Kimberley? Join the Between The Lines Book Club to read along with us, meet authors at live events, and connect with a community of readers who see reading as self-care. BOOK MY SPOT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit betweenthelinesaustralia.substack.com

What do we inherit from the world and the people in it, and what do we do with it? In this episode, Leanne and Chelle talk with Ellena Savage about her debut novel, The Ruiners.Pip is a university dropout working at a Melbourne lobster shack. When her long-absent father dies and leaves her $50,000, she and her boyfriend Sasha, an ambitious young scholar, buy a run-down house on a struggling Greek island. The island doesn’t turn out to be the dream they imagined."I wanted it to feel like a dinner party with too many people talking and too much food." — Ellena SavageEllena explains why the book was almost called Mummy, and why “the ruiners” covers everyone from her hapless late-twenties characters to the corporations and politicians who shape our lives. We talk about Pip’s quiet refusal to chase ambition, Sasha’s defences against his own feelings, and why Ellena wanted the novel to be loud and maximalist instead of quiet and minimal. We also get into what she saw on real Greek islands: landfills, seasonal work, and the gap between holiday fantasy and local life. She shares why recycling is a bigger political issue than our own good habits, and why small local action still matters.Plus: why there’s a lobster on the cover. (Read the book to find out!)About Ellena SavageEllena Savage is an Australian writer and the author of the critically acclaimed essay collection Blueberries. Her stories and essays have been widely published and supported by grants and residential fellowships. The Ruiners is her first novel, published in Australia, the US and the UK.* Website: https://ellenasavage.com/* Instagram: @rarrsavage* Buy the book: Simon & SchusterLove talking books with authors like Ellena? Join the Between The Lines Book Club to read along with us, meet authors at live events, and connect with a community of readers who see reading as self-care. BOOK MY SPOT This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit betweenthelinesaustralia.substack.com