Jane Harper and Claire Douglas

About this episode

Joe Haddow hosts bestselling authors Claire Douglas and Jane Harper as they discuss writing, fictional settings, and their latest books.

Joe Haddow welcomes two bestselling authors - Claire Douglas and Jane Harper - to Book Off to go head-to-head in a war of the words! They chat about making fictional settings seem as real as possible, how a sense of place can shape a novel, and why you should ALWAYS write down your ideas, you never know when you might need them. Jane and Claire also talk about knowing when to give up on a novel - rather than pushing through if something's not working - and how some books come easier than others. The two authors also give us some brilliant book recommendations - and writing advice! THE BOOK OFF 'The 13 Storey Treehouse' by Andy Griffiths VS 'Tom's Midnight Garden' by Philippa Pearce But which one will win? Here's a little more about our guests' new books: 'Last One Out' by Jane Harper Five years ago, Sam Crowley vanished on his twenty-first birthday. The only clues were his footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses. One set in. One set out. Now, his mother Ro returns to the dying town of Carralon Ridge. The community is a ghost of its former self, fractured by the encroaching mining operation and years of unspoken grief. Ro is looking for answers. But in a town where…

People in this episode

Host: Joe Haddow

Guests: Claire Douglas, Jane Harper

Topics covered

• fictional settings
• writing advice
• book recommendations
• novel development
• bestselling authors

Keywords

• Jane Harper
• Claire Douglas
• writing advice
• book recommendations
• fictional settings
• Last One Out
• The Family Friend

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The 13 Storey Treehouse, Tom's Midnight Garden, Last One Out, The Family Friend

More episodes of Book Off!

• Tayari Jones and Lily King · June 12, 2026 · 44 min
• Ava Glass and Anna Mazzola · June 5, 2026 · 48 min
• Fran Fabriczki and Sam Beckbessinger · May 28, 2026 · 48 min
• Sarah Hilary and Sabine Durrant · May 22, 2026 · 54 min
• Jessie Burton and Katy Hessel · April 9, 2026 · 55 min
• Tanya Sweeney and Alex Kadis · March 27, 2026 · 1h 3m