Books of the Week

View the latest weekly pick of books from BBC Radio 4.

Week commencing 11th April 2011

Book of the Week

The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body from Rusting by Marie de Hennezel

The inevitable ageing process does not have to condemn us to solitude, suffering, degradation or dependency. In this eloquent meditation on ageing, Marie de Hennezel guides us through a true 'art of growing old'. She recalls her encounters as a clinical psychologist with extraordinary people who 'grow old gracefully' - and through her experience shows us how to make the most of this time in our lives, to avoid depression and to stay happy. She believes that wherever we grow old and whatever our circumstances, if we can maintain energy in our hearts and believe in the power of joy and human warmth, this can transform us and the way we look at the world. Find out more

Book at Bedtime

Plague Child by Peter Ransley

The first instalment of a page-turning trilogy set against the backdrop of the English Civil War. September 1625: Plague cart driver, Matthew Neave, is sent to pick up the corpse of a baby. Yet, on the way to the plague pit, he hears a cry -- the baby is alive. A plague child himself, and now immune from the disease, Matthew decides to raise it as his own. Fifteen years on, Matthew's son Tom is apprenticed to a printer in the City. Somebody is interested in him and is keen to turn him into a gentleman. He is even given an education. But Tom is unaware that he has a benefactor and soon he discovers that someone else is determined to kill him. Find out more

Open Book

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

A novel that circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other's pasts, the reader does, in detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs.Find out more

Book Club

The Gingerbread Woman by Jennifer Johnston

On a rainy afternoon on Killiney Hill a young man walking, without his overcoat, happens upon a woman gazing out over Dublin bay, standing perilously close to the edge. From their testy encounter develops a remarkable friendship which will enable each to face afresh their very different, damaged pasts, and to look, however tentatively, towards the future. Find out more