Discover Underrated Books by Carole Burns

Read This: Books under the Radar is a weekly post written by a guest author – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire – who recommends three books they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love. You can see the full list of books which have been selected, as well as the author’s latest book on Bookshop.org, where you can have a browse and buy any that take your fancy. Happy reading!

Read This: Carole Burns

Carole was Head of Creative Writing on the MA I did, way back in 2011. She was only there a year before she left, but I remember being inspired and in awe – here was a real-life published author, telling me how it was done. Since then we’ve stayed in touch, she’s even come to my writing group on a couple of occasions and it’s always wonderful to get a sneak preview of what she’s writing. Here’s what she has to say about herself:

Carole Burns is an award-winning American writer and journalist living in the U.K.  The Same Country, her debut novel, named by Wales Arts Review as one of the Best Welsh Fiction Books of 2023, was described by the writer Gish Jen as “unearthing long-buried truths that remain the truths of America.” A freelancer for the Washington Post and LitHub, Burns was the winner of Ploughshares’ Zacharis Award for The Missing Woman and Other Stories. Her book, Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between, features interviews with forty-three writers including Jhumpa Lahiri and Colm Tóibín. She is Associate Professor at the University of Southampton and lives in Cardiff.

Find her at:
http://www.caroleburns.com
Instagram @writercaroleburns
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carole.burns.73

Read on to find out which three books Carole recommends.

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Hidden Gem Book Recommendations from Cate Baum

Read This: Books under the Radar is a weekly post written by a guest author – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire – who recommends three books they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love. You can see the full list of books which have been selected, as well as the author’s latest book on Bookshop.org, where you can have a browse and buy any that take your fancy. Happy reading!

Read This: Cate Baum

Cate Baum and I met a few times in person when I mentored her for her first (unpublished) novel which she wrote on her Creative Writing MA course – and I loved it. Land of Hope is the novel that got her an agent and a publishing deal (which I’m very much looking forward to) it will be published in May 2025, and is available to pre-order now. Here’s what she has to say about herself:

Cate Baum was born in Cambridge to a magician and a big band singer. She grew up in the East Anglian countryside, spending summers roaming the wilds of the UK. She attended UCLA to study Screenwriting, and then City University, London, gaining a Masters with Distinction in Creative Writing. There, she was mentored by Claire Fuller (The Memory of Animals), Clare Allan (Poppy Shakespeare) and Jonathan Myerson (Nuremberg). She now lives in Spain. Her debut novel, Land of Hope, will be published in 2025.

Find her on Instagram @catebaumwriter

Read on to find out which three books Cate recommends.

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