🎧 Best Political Novels

Episode summary: A break from Brexit this week: we talk to the novelist Richard T. Kelly, author of Crusaders and The Knives, about what makes great political fiction. We discuss the research needed to make a political novel authentic, how to get inside the head of a politician and we ask whether May or Trump would make good fictional heroes. Plus we pick some of our favourite political novels, with literary critic Kasia Boddy. Don’t worry: more Brexit soon! Talking Points: How does a novelist know what it’s like to be a Conservative Home Secretary? - It’s about research and empathy. - Novelists should understand and contain forces of both revolution and counter-revolution within themself. The best political novels often extend forward into dystopia but also backward into history to explain how you got to that outcome. - Writing the present is extremely difficult. - Political novels need human drama and conflict. - The human elements allow you to get beyond Washington or Westminster. - The challenge is to capture both…