The Radio 2 Book Club

Come with Sara Cox on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Library in Windsor Castle. Housing over 45,000 items, this library is a treasure trove for book lovers, with texts dating back hundreds of years.
Our guide is one of the curators, Elizabeth Clark Ashby, who tells us the history of the library, what her job entails day-to-day, and picks out four amazing artifacts to show us. These are:
A handwritten manuscript by Mozart (aged 11)
The complete works of Shakespeare, which was owned by Charles I
A tiny jeweled miniature book, made for Queen Mary's dolls house
A copy of Jane Eyre, inscribed by Queen Victoria to Albert
Windsor Castle played host to the Gran Final of 500 Words - the UK's most celebrated children's writing competition. Exceptional young writers from all across the UK were invited to a reception, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen, honouring their imagination, creativity and remarkable stories.
The Grand Final was hosted by Alex Jones and Roman Kemp and the six winning entries – to be revealed in a special edition of The One Show on Friday 6th March - were read at the event by Sara Cox, Jodie Whittaker, Joanna Page, Bradley and Barney Walsh, Big Zuu and Paterson Joseph.
*you can hear more from Sara's trip to Windsor on her teatime show on Radio 2, on Thursday 5th March.

Author Charleen Hurtubise joins Sara in the Radio 2 Book Club to chat about her new novel, 'Saoirse'
They talk about her inspirations for the story, the fine line between dishonesty and reinvention, beekeeping and giving her son's cat a cameo in the book.
We also hear a snippet of the audiobook - and - get a great book recommendation too!
Here's a little bit more about the novel:
In the wilds of Donegal, Ireland, 1999, Saoirse is an artist living an outwardly idyllic life. Her tender husband Daithí and two beloved daughters are regular subjects for her work, and in them she has found the safe home that she has always longed for. She tends not to talk about her past, and those that love her have learned to accept that the full story is too painful for her to disclose.
When her Dublin exhibition unexpectedly wins a prestigious award that invites a swarm of publicity, Saoirse is left panic stricken. The unanticipated recognition threatens to expose a decade's worth of buried memories and past crimes. Because what her family and friends don't know is that Saoirse has been on the run since she was seventeen, she has stolen an identity to survive, and whilst Ireland might now be her home, it wasn't her first - and now her past life is poised to reclaim her.
The novel weaves between flashbacks to a complicated childhood in Michigan, and Saoirse's journey to and in Ireland to forge safety for herself.

Barrister turned author, and recent 'Traitors' star - Harriet Tyce - joins Sara for a chat about her new novel.
She talks about stepping out of her comfort zone and writing a male protagonist, her inspirations for the book and if her time in the Traitors castle has inspired a new story.
Harriet also gives a great book recommendation too.

Bestselling author, Sadeqa Johnson, joins Sara for a natter about her new novel.
'The Keeper Of Lost Children' is a powerful and beautifully told novel about hidden secrets and the hunger to belong. Sadeqa talks about her inspirations for the book, the real-life characters that inspired the story - and why it's so important to write people of colour back into the history books.
We also hear a clip from her audiobook - and - get a cracking book recommendation as well.
Here's the blurb for The Keeper Of Lost Children:
Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American Officer, is living in Occupied Germany in the 1950s. After discovering a local orphanage filled with the abandoned mixed-race children of German women and Black American GI's, Ethel feels compelled to help find these children homes.
Philadelphia born Ozzie Phillips volunteers for the recently desegregated army in 1948, eager to make his mark in the world. While serving in Manheim, Germany, he meets a local woman, Jelka, and the two embark on a relationship that will impact their lives forever.
In 1965 Maryland, Sophia Clark is given an opportunity to attend a prestigious all white boarding school and escape her heartless parents. While at the school, she discovers a secret that upends her world and sends her on a quest to unravel her own identity.
Toggling between the lives of these three individuals, Keeper of Lost Children explores how one woman's vision will change the course of countless lives, and demonstrates that love in its myriad of forms--familial, parental, and forbidden, even love of self--can be transcendent.

Cressida Cowell (bestselling children's author of the 'How To Train Your Dragon' series) joins Sara for a natter about the joy of reading.
As an ambassador for The National Year Of Reading, Cressida is passionate about getting people reading for pleasure - especially children - and chats to Sara about the various plans in place this year to encourage more people to pick up a book, comic, graphic novel - or even listen to an audiobook.
She also takes us behind the scenes of the filming of 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' which has just started filming!