# Beejay Silcox & Bernadette Brennan review: Doireann Ní Ghríofa/Chloe Wilson/Deborah Levy

An episode of [The Bookshelf](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/499762704), 29 May 2026, 54 min.

Audio: https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/l0/Z/a5.mp3

Kate Evans is joined by Bernadette Brennan and Beejay Silcox to talk three striking new releases: Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead, a haunting, archive-rich exploration of a derelict Irish asylum; Chloe Wilson’s The Thornbacks, a darkly comic debut of morticians, dating apps and unsettling female entanglements; and Deborah Levy’s My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, a playful meditation on literary life in Paris. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED • Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye • Susan Choi, Flashlight • S.A. Cosby, works • Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat • Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle • Angela Carter, Wise Children • Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides • Daisy Johnson, Sisters • Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects • Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister the Serial Killer • Deborah Levy, works • Kim Scott, Benang • Alexis Wright, Carpentaria • Francesca Wade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife • Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas • Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain, Bone Horn • Erin Vincent. Fourteen Ways of Looking • Claire Thomas, On Not Climbing Mountains • Gwendoline Riley, The Palm House • Chloe Wilson, Hold Your Fire • Robin Robertson, The Long Take • Joseph Furphy, Such is Life • Elizabeth Jolley, works ~ CREDITS • Presenter: Kate Evans • Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett • Sound: Antonia Gauci • Arts editor: Rhiannon Brown

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