The next book to be featured this season on the Sara Cox Radio 2 Book Club is The Rush by Beth Lewis—a gripping historical crime novel, rich in its setting and characters.
The book will be released on 10 June and Beth’s interview with Sara is on BBC Sounds from Tuesday 10 June.
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We have an exclusive extract.
The Rush
Gold fever has taken him. I believe he means to kill me…
Canada, 1898. The Gold Rush is on in the frozen wilderness of the Yukon. Fortunes are made as quickly as they’re lost, and Dawson City has become a lawless settlement.
In its midst, three women are trying to find their place on the edge of civilisation. Journalist Kate, along with her dog Yukon, has travelled hundreds of miles after receiving a letter from her sister warning that her husband means to kill her. Martha’s hotel and livelihood are under threat from the local strongman, who is set on buying up the town. And down by the river, where gold shimmers from between the rocks, Ellen feels her future slip away as her husband fails to find the fortune they risked so much to seek.
When a woman is found murdered, Kate, Martha and Ellen find their lives, fates and fortunes intertwined. But to unmask her killer, they must navigate a desperate land run by dangerous men who will do anything for a glimpse of gold…
About the author
Beth Lewis was raised in the wilds of Cornwall and split her childhood between books and the beach. She has travelled extensively throughout the world and has had close encounters with black bears, killer whales, and Great White sharks. She has been, at turns, a bank cashier, fire performer, juggler, and is currently the Publishing Manager at Rebellion.
The Rush is her fifth novel. She lives in Oxford with her wife and daughter.
A word from Beth
“When I found out The Rush had been picked for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club, at first I couldn’t believe it, I had to read the email a few times before it really sank in. I’m absolutely thrilled and so excited for this book to reach amazing new readers. Book clubs, libraries and reading groups are so important to the industry and especially to authors. They bring people together and foster connections and community built on a love of great stories. When I was a child, I adored the library and it was so important to me because we didn’t have that much money spare to buy new books. Those Saturday trips and the stories I uncovered made me a writer. One of those stories was White Fang by Jack London and so began my love (and obsession) with all things Gold Rush and wilderness.”
“The Rush—a crime novel set in the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898, inspired by the lives of real women who lived at the time—is the novel I’ve dreamed of writing for years and never been brave enough to, so to be picked for this book club and to see the incredible response so far is a real dream come true.”
Get involved
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