In this episode, we dive into Eden’s Shore—a dense, experimental, and rewarding read that left us wanting more. With Hannah away traveling, we’re joined by our Bookie of the Week, Graeme (@graeme_c on Instagram), who shares his take on this powerful and unusual novel.

📚 Eden’s Shore is divided into four main chapters—Sea, Land, Colony, Play—plus a final chapter titled World. We all agreed: we’ve barely scratched the surface. So, we’re launching a mini-series between our regular episodes to unpack each chapter in its own dedicated discussion. If you're reading along, we’d love to hear your thoughts for inclusion in future episodes!

🎧 Bonus: The audiobook is free on Spotify for anyone with a subscription—perfect for those catching up!

🏆 Poll Results Are In!

The next book we’ll be reading together is Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon! Start reading now and send us your thoughts—our next full review episode drops Monday in two weeks.

📊 New Book Club Poll – Vote Now!

Help us choose what to read after Glorious Exploits! You can vote on:

• 🟢 Spotify poll (on this episode)

• 📸 Instagram post poll

• 📸 Instagram Story poll

The more places you vote, the more influence you have!

This week’s picks:

👑 Has Been Crowned – The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Aaron’s pick)
→ Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2025

📖 Freshly Bound – The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis (Colin’s pick)
→ Recently released and gaining momentum

🏅 Now Renowned – Confessions by Catherine Airey (Lucy’s pick)
→ Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

💬 Share Your Thoughts

We want to hear what you think of Eden’s Shore, Glorious Exploits, or the books in this week’s poll!

📩 bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com
📘 Goodreads
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter/X
📘 Facebook

Tap Follow wherever you’re listening so you don’t miss the mini-series or our next review!

We’re back! In this season premiere, we react to Heart Lamp’s big win at the 2025 International Booker Prize, reveal our next book club read—Eden’s Shore by Oisín Fagan—and launch our Book Club Vote to decide what we’ll read after that.

🎧 We also catch you up on what we’ve been reading and planning behind the scenes. Come join the conversation!

📊 Book Club Poll – Vote Now!

You can vote in four places—Instagram, Twitter/X, Facebook, and right here on this episode.
📌 Voting closes Midnight GMT on Friday.
📌 The more places you vote, the more your vote counts!

This Week’s Categories & Picks:

👑 Has Been Crowned - Lucy
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

• Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction

• Winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

• Winner of the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award

• Named a Best Book of 2024 by Slate, The Guardian, and the New York Public Library

📖 Freshly Bound - Hannah
Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare

• Published 12th June 2025

• Be among the first to read it!

🏅 Now Renowned - Aaron
The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

• Shortlisted for the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novella

• Shortlisted for the 2025 Nebula Award for Best Novella

📚 Been Around - Colin
Mother Naked by Glen James Brown

• Colin’s personal top read of 2024

📅 What’s Coming Up

Our next episode drops Monday 16th June, where we’ll review Eden’s Shore and reveal the winner of the vote.
From then on, we’ll be releasing new episodes every two weeks this season.

💬 We Want to Hear From You!

Tell us what you thought of Eden’s Shore, vote in the poll, or recommend our next book!
Which book would you suggest for each category?

📩 bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com
📘 Goodreads
📸 Instagram
🐦 Twitter/X
📘 Facebook

👉 Tap Follow on your favourite platform to stay in the loop and help shape what we read next!

The shortlist has been read, the opinions have been aired, and now it’s time... to rank them.

In this special bonus episode of Bookies’ Favourite, we each reveal our final rankings of the six International Booker Prize 2025 shortlisted books—complete with laughs, debates, and a little chaos, especially as Lucy goes head-to-head with the Bookies' Favourite hivemind 👀📚

We also:

• Discuss our aggregate podcast rating based on all previous reviews

• Break down the bookies’ odds and what they might tell us about tonight’s winner

• Share a few last-minute hopes and predictions before the announcement drops this evening

🎉 Stay tuned:
We’ll be back later this week with a reaction episode once the winner is announced, and to share our plans for what we’ll read next—whether that’s more awards, future shortlists, or award-winning books.

💬 We want to hear from you!
Let us know what prize lists, books, or themes you’d like us to cover going forward. This podcast is a book club, after all—and we want your voice in the conversation.

📘 Facebook: Bookies’ Favourite
📸 Instagram: @bookiesfavouritebookclub
🐦 Twitter/X: @BookiesFavorite
📚 Goodreads: Bookies’ Favourite Bookclub
📧 Email: bookiesfavouritebookclub@gmail.com

Thanks for joining us on this International Booker journey—see you soon for the winner reveal!