Anna and Geoff discuss the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, including Flashlight, The Correspondent and Audition.  Some of the other long-listed books feature writers as characters, which gets us talking about turn-offs in novels.
 
Our book of the week is DEPARTURE(S) by Julian Barnes. This is the final book by the Booker Prize-winning author. It is a novel about a couple who reunite later in life, with authobiographical elements from Barnes' own life, or it could be a memoir containing a short story.  There is also Proust, philosophy and some observations on memory. Described as 'elegant' (The Times) and 'unmistakably Barnes' (Observer), it got us thinking:
 
Where is the line between memoir and novel?
Is DEPARTURE(S) a love story?
Are the memory bits too Oliver Sacksy?
 
Coming up: SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood.
 
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Instagram: @abailliekaras
Substack: Books On The Go
 
Credits
 
Artwork: Sascha Wilkosz
 

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