Disgust, despair and belly laughs on the show this week – with Neena Viel and her new novel, I’ll Watch Your Baby.
It’s a dense, troubling tale of child theft, social horror and demons, with plenty of putrid feet to give you a summertime ick! But if the book is a sickener, the author is a delight. Neena makes me do a proper full-on guffaw (has anyone EVER guffawed?), whilst we talk about urban-vs-rural horror,
reprehensible acts and problematic protagonists, and the abiding lie of the Welfare Queen trope.
Enjoy. Laugh. Even learn (up to you!)
Other books mentioned:
Listen to Your Sister (2025), by Neena Viel
The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth (2019), by Josh Levin
On Sundays She Picked Flowers (2026), by Yah Yah Schofield
The Night Pool (2026), by Lauren Lee Smith
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