On this weeks episode of Literati Glitterati, Irish author Caoilinn Hughes is on to talk about her new book, The Alternatives.

Caoilinn says there’s a little bit of her in all her characters, but in this conversation she talks about the way she employed her friends expertise to form complex and fully fleshy characters.

The novel (written without drafts if you can believe it) is about adult siblings, and the dynamics of sisters as they grow up together without parental guidance. And according to Mel, The Alternatives gives the reader “ideas on how to cope right now in real time” - which we all need.

Plus, don't forget, the Lit Glit salon returns at the end of the July with A Manual For Cleaning Women, a pulverising selection of short stories from the previously unsung queen of story, Lucia Berlin.