BEAR by Marian Engel, chosen by novelist Sarah Waters
THE TRUE BELIEVER by Eric Hoffer, chosen by film editor Walter Murch
THE VISITOR by Maeve Brennan, chosen by presenter Harriett Gilber

Sarah Waters, acclaimed author of Fingersmith and The Night Watch, and Walter Murch, legendary film editor of Apocalypse Now and The English Patient choose the books they love.

Sarah’s choice is a cinematic novel set in Northern Canada. Bear by Marian Engel is the unusual tale of a woman’s friendship and subsequent sexual relationship with a bear when she travels to a remote island for the summer.

The True Believer is a remarkably prescient examination of mass movements from 1951. Author Eric Hoffer examines political fanaticism throughout the ages. Walter Murch chose it because he says so much of it rings true in today’s fractured world.

Harriett’s choice is the story of different generations of women in an unhappy home in Ireland. Maeve Brennan’s novella The Visitor is a haunting tale of a chilly tight-lipped Dublin home.

Producer: Maggie Ayre, BBC Audio Bristol

Photo: Charlie Hopkinson