Book lovers, Sapphire Bates, Joseph Dance and Michelle Thomas from Thanet in Kent have launched a new podcast, Novel Thoughts.
Saphire is owner of independent Ramsgate bookshop Book Bodega, Joseph is an archivist, while Michelle is a PR and marketing consultant.
The podcast is Sapphire’s brainchild; she put a call out on Instagram looking for a ‘pod wife’ and Joseph and Michelle answered.
Each week one of the team picks a book for discussion rather than a review – more a chat between three friends who love books and read a lot.
The list includes harrowing bestseller ‘A Little Life’, Emma Dabiri’s powerful essay on beauty, ‘Disobedient Bodies’, British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year ‘Babel’, feminist smash-hit ‘Lessons In Chemistry’ and more.
The first episodes were ranked 3rd in Apple’s book podcast charts when they were released just before Christmas.
“This is something I had wanted to do for ages! I can’t wait to share the podcast with the world,” Sapphire explained. “Being in the top three podcasts in Apple’s chart was a dream come true; we couldn’t have had a better start!”
The trio also want listeners to get in touch with requests for recommendations and discuss the other culture they’ve been consuming, from TV and films to podcasts and music.
Joseph added: “Our aim is to entertain and inform, and if someone finds just one great book through the podcast, then we’ve succeeded.”
Michelle commented: “We hope people will enjoy listening to deep dives into books and will find our recommendations useful. We’ll only be recommending books that we genuinely love or find interesting or thought provoking.”
Novel Thoughts releases weekly on Acast and all major podcast platforms.
