This week, we lose the run of ourselves (verrrry slightly) as we sit down with an undisputed legend - Frances Hardinge. Frances is the author of ten acclaimed and brilliant novels for young adults, the winner of the Costa Book Award (only the second children's author to do so, besides Philip Pullman), and the wearer of an assortment of extremely excellent hats. We wish to put it on record that she wore her hat throughout our conversation - as is only right and proper! Come with us as we take a walk through the absolutely amazing literary landscape that has shaped and formed Frances and her books, and forgive our (alright, Sinéad's) excited fangirling. (She regrets nothing.)

Books mentioned in this episode include Frances's own:

Fly By Night

Twilight Robbery

Gullstruck Island

Verdigris Deep

A Face Like Glass

Cuckoo Song

The Lie Tree

A Skinful of Shadows

Deeplight

Unraveller

The stories that have shaped Frances include:

The Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle

James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl

Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett

The Time of the Ghost, by Diana Wynne Jones

The Thirteen Clocks, by James Thurber

The Moomintroll series of stories, by Tove Jansson

Watership Down, by Richard Adams

The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden

The Girl in the Tower, by Katherine Arden

Her Dark Wings, by Melinda Salisbury

Leila and the Blue Fox, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston

And the collected work of H. Mills West (listen to the episode to find the touching reason why this writer's work is included.)

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