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Evie Wyld talks to Johny Pitts about her new novel, The Echoes. The book opens with Max discovering that he’s dead. He finds himself in the South London flat he shared with his partner Hannah, wondering how and why he died, and what the rules are for being a ghost. But the novel is also about Hannah, who moved to South London from rural Australia. Slowly, the book pieces together the fragments of Hannah’s traumatic family history.

Recent years have seen a number of stand-up comedians turn to writing novels - including Jessie Cave, whose debut Sunset was a Sunday Times bestseller, and who is performing two shows at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Camille Bordas's latest novel is set over the course of one day in Chicago among students and teachers at a degree course in stand-up comedy. They discuss their work, and the different challenges of being funny on stage and on the page.

And for our monthly Editor's Pick - where we ask a Commissioning Editor to recommend us a great read from a rival publishing house - Kinza Azira has chosen Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker.

Presenter: Johny Pitts
Producer: Tim Bano

Book List – Sunday 18 August

The Echoes by Evie Wyld
After the Fire, A Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld
The Material by Camille Bordas
Sunset by Jessie Cave
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Erasure by Percival Everett
Twenty Grand by Rebecca Curtis
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker