Episodes

EpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast
RepeatedComments
Cake2012070120140719 (R4)In this series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory, poignant domestic dramas gradually unfold through the preparation of a special recipe.

In the first story by Helen Simpson, powerful memories are evoked when a mother bakes a birthday cake for her daughter, now no longer a child.

Helen Simpson is a novelist and hugely acclaimed short story writer. Her first collection, 'Four Bare Legs in a Bed and Other Stories', won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, while her book 'Hey Yeah Right Get a Life', a series of interlinked stories, won the Hawthornden Prize. She was one of Granta's twenty Best of Young British Novelists campaign in 1993, and is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The next story in the series comes from Kevin Barry, who won this year's Sunday Times short story award. Barry's first novel, 'City of Bohane', was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award, and a previous short story collection, 'There Are Little Kingdoms', won the Rooney prize for Irish Literature. In Barry's story, an insurance clerk of a certain age recreates the romantic spaghetti bolognese he cooked for the lass in the typing pool on his last date - some thirty years before...

The final story in the series is by Aminatta Forna, the award-winning author of two novels: 'The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones'. In her story, a man struggles to cook for a young child after a terrible loss.

Producer: Justine Willett

Reader: Stella Gonet.

By Helen Simpson. Powerful memories are evoked when a mother bakes a birthday cake.

Series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory.

02The Lovely Miss What's-her-face2012070820140726 (R4)In this series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory, poignant domestic dramas gradually unfold through the preparation of a special recipe.

In this story, 'The Lovely Miss What's-Her-Face' by Kevin Barry, winner of the 2012 Sunday Times short story award, an insurance clerk of a certain age recreates the exotic spaghetti bolognese he cooked for the lass in the typing pool, on his last romantic date - some 30 years before...

Kevin Barry's first novel, 'City of Bohane', was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award, and a previous short story collection, 'There Are Little Kingdoms', won the Rooney prize for Irish Literature.

Read by: David Schofield

Producer: Justine Willett.

By Kevin Barry. A spaghetti bolognese in a Manchester bedsit brings back romantic memories

Series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory.

03Scotch Broth2012071520140802 (R4)In this series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory, powerful domestic dramas gradually unfold through the preparation of a special recipe.

In the final story in the series, by Aminatta Forna, a man struggles to cook for a young child, after a terrible loss...

Aminatta Forna was born in Glasgow, raised in Sierra Leone and Britain and also spent periods of her childhood in Iran, Thailand and Zambia. She is the award-winning author of two novels: 'The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones', and a memoir 'The Devil that Danced on the Water'.

Read by: Hugh Quarshie

Producer: Justine Willett.

By Aminatta Forna. A man does his best to cook for a child after a terrible loss.

Series of monologues exploring the link between food and memory.