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The Lay of the Land, by the American novelist Richard Ford, is the third of what became a series of five books about Frank Bascombe.

Now in his mid-50s, Frank has left sports writing behind and works in real estate in coastal New Jersey. But life is not settled - Frank is in remission from cancer and, previously divorced, his new marriage is facing problems of its own and relations with his grown-up children are under strain. Also, the dispute over the result of the US presidential election, between George W. Bush and Al Gore, lingers in the background.

John Yorke asks if Richard Ford achieves what he sets out to in this book - not only to continue Frank’s story, but to do something bigger than he’s done before, to reflect on America in the early 2000s – a country and culture that was about to change forever.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Â鶹Éç Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of Â鶹Éç Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless.  As creator of the Â鶹Éç Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names.  He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for R4.

Contributor:
Ian McGuire, Professor of American Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. He is the author of three novels, Incredible Bodies (2006), The North Water (2016) and The Abstainer (2020), and one critical monograph, Richard Ford and the Ends of Realism (2015).

Credits:
Excerpts from The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford, 2006.
Interview clips of Richard Ford from the Â鶹Éç radio archive.

Reader: Eric Stroud
Production Hub Coordinator: Nina Semple
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Producer: Jack Soper
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael

A Pier production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4