The Waterstones Podcast

50% of people in the UK take supplements and the consumer blood-testing industry is now a $128 billion business. But does any of it work? In an increasingly confusing world Xand van Tulleken wanted to cut through the noise to sort fact from fiction. Two years later, his new book, Make Me Well, shares the results. We sat down with him to discover what wellness means, what works (and what doesn't) and why for most people the real benefits might be found elsewhere entirely.

In her most personal novel yet, Rebecca F. Kuang transports readers to Taipei, where Yale student Lily is working on her Chinese language to better connect with her Chinese family, only for loss to appear suddenly and change her perspective. In a fascinating discussion we spoke with Rebecca about linguistic relativity, getting grief wrong and falling foul of flat listings with clever camera angles.

Kate Atkinson's latest novel beautifully combines her skills in historical detail and crime caper plotting for a story which assembles a motley crew of misfits attempting to curate 1951's Festival of Britain. We sat down to speak with her about the allure of the period, how she creates character and why bringing joy to readers is still what drives her.

Join us as we celebrate Rebecca Perry as the author of this year's Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-winner, May We Feed The King. Over a glass of bubbly, we discuss the connections between her curator character and the art of writing, playing with the tropes of historical fiction, and her love of cats.

Jon Ronson's latest journalistic adventure begins with a series of text messages from his son which then leads to an odyssey from reality TV, to influencers, to America's disenfranchised men to paint a portrait of masculinity in crisis as only he can. We spoke with him about where his work ethic comes from, being a slave to the algorithm and how many turrets is too many turrets.