Oh my goodness, chatting with the wonderful Fran Littlewood in this episode of Best Book Forward was an absolute joy from start to finish!

Fran joined me to natter all about her absolutely fabulous new novel, The Favourite – which is just a brilliant, rollercoaster family saga about the Fishers. Their seemingly normal family holiday gets completely turned upside down when Dad accidentally lets slip... wait for it... that he has a favourite daughter! Talk about awkward!

In our chat, we dive into how Fran's own life as one of three sisters helped spark the story, how our relationships with our siblings really do shape who we are, the rollercoaster ride of parenting and ageing, and how our memories of the very same family moments can be hilariously (or sometimes frustratingly!) different from everyone else’s!

This episode was recorded in March (Season 3 took a little longer to bring to life than I'd hoped), the good news is there is no need to preorder you can rush to your local bookshop and grab your copy today!

And of course, as always, we uncovered the five incredible books that have played a huge role in shaping Fran's life. Get ready to add these to your list (or maybe revisit some old friends!):

Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler

Hey Yeah Right Get A Life by Helen Simpson

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

A huge thank you to the lovely @MrsMarr and @NicTheBookWorm! I really hope you enjoyed hearing your brilliant questions answered on the show.

If you enjoyed this episode (and I really hope you did!), it would mean the absolute world to me if you could take a few moments to rate, review, and subscribe – and even better, tell all your bookish buddies about Best Book Forward!

Have a fantastic week, and I'll see you back here next Thursday for more bookish fun!