October Book Club: One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford - Book Gang | Lyssna här

Leigh Radford joins our October Book Club to discuss One Yellow Eye, a haunting novel that explores love, grief, and survival in the aftermath of a pandemic.

This week on Book Gang, we’re joined by Leigh Radford, whose haunting debut One Yellow Eye is our October pick for the MomAdvice Book Club. In this genre-bending debut, Radford weaves her personal journey of loss into a haunting story of a scientist, Kesta, whose devotion to her husband pushes the boundaries of science, ethics, and the human heart.

We explore how horror fiction can expose the hidden costs of caregiving, the complexities of grief, and the fierce hope that keeps us moving forward—even when the world feels unrecognizable. Join us for a gorgeous conversation that goes beyond scares and excavates the messy, unbreakable bonds that make us human.

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

📚Blurring Boundaries: Genre, Publishing, and the Art of Defying Labels: Leigh shares the real-world complexities of bringing a genre-bending novel to market. From conflicting advice on editing and cover design to the challenges of positioning a book that sits between literary fiction and horror, we discuss how One Yellow Eye’s unique identity created both obstacles and opportunities—from the UK to the US—and what it’s like to navigate a publishing landscape that often resists stories that don’t fit neatly into a single box.

📚 Writing, Caregiving, and the Birth of a Novel in Crisis: Leigh opens up about how caring for her terminally ill father during the pandemic didn’t just inspire her horror novel—it transformed it into an intimate meditation on love and the unseen burdens of caretaking. We explore how Leigh’s personal grief and resilience, coupled with her desire to honor her father’s memory, became the emotional core of this engrossing debut.

📚 The Humanity in Horror: Turning Fear into Connection: Leigh examines how horror, at its best, can be a mirror for our deepest vulnerabilities, allowing us to explore the messy realities of love, loss, and ethical choice. We discuss why discomfort on the page can spark empathy, how horror reveals the hidden costs of survival and devotion, and why stories that unsettle us are sometimes the ones that linger.

FREE BONUS BOOK LIST: This week’s bonus book list features 16 Zombie Books to Try This Spooky Season that play with those blurred lines between humanity and monstrosity. Patrons of the show will receive a printable list to take to their local library and a bonus spoiler chat with Leigh Radford, where we dig deeper into the ethical and emotional questions at the heart of One Yellow Eye.

Meet Leigh Radford

Leigh Radford trained as a broadcast journalist before producing and presenting arts and entertainment content for commercial radio, Time Out, The Times, and The Sun. She has made documentaries for the BBC, including Rilke’s Women for Radio 4. A former book publicist, she is a 2023 graduate of Faber Academy and the founder of Kenosha Kickers, her film and television production company. One Yellow Eye is her debut novel, available now wherever books are sold.

Mentioned in this episode:

Gratitude to Our Show Patrons: This week's episode is open to all listeners thanks to generous donations made through Buy Me a Coffee and your community memberships. If you'd like to keep the conversation going, you're invited to join our Patreon Book Club chat on October 29th at 8 PM ET, where we'll dive deeper into spoilers, themes, and reader reactions. Membership is $5 a month, or you can prepay for the year and save 10%.

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2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

FREE BONUS BOOK LIST: 16 Zombie Books to Try This Spooky Season

One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford

Carrie by Stephen King

Misery by Stephen King

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

Mrs March by Virginia Feito

Shaun of the Dead

Lucy Steeds

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Leigh’s Youtube interview

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