Malcolm Knox's The First Friend: a black comedy set in Stalin's Soviet Union

A peripatetic hotel, a paddle steamer of dreams and a dastardly law firm, in Jock Serong’s Cherrywood; one of the 20th century’s top 10 all-star ‘leading’ murderers, and what it might mean to be close to him, in Malcolm Knox’s The First Friend; and spies, caves, lies and Neanderthals in Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake. BOOKS Malcolm Knox, The First Friend, Allen & Unwin Jock Serong, Cherrywood, Fourth Estate Rachel Kushner, Creation Lake, Jonathan Cape GUESTS Roanna Gonsalves, creative writing academic, writer whose books include the short story collection The Permanent Resident Tom Wright, theatre writer and adapter; artistic associate, the Belvoir Theatre OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Peter Carey, works Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness James Bradley, Ghost Species Jon Baptiste del Amo, Son of Man Michelle de Kretser, Theory and Practice William Dalrymple, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World José Saramago, The Elephant's Journey Adalbert Stifter, The Bachelors Jonathan Raban, Soft City CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans + Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans + Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Craig Tilmouth + Ann-Marie Debettencor Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown