Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times.

Today Gary is joined by multiple award-winning author Nicola Griffith and they discuss the less-than-satisfactory challenges of the virtual cocktail party, the more satisfactory challenges of researching historical fiction and of reading Patrick O’Brian and others, the advantages of using genre as a set of tools rather than a container, her own So Lucky, her forthcoming sequel to Hild, and an exciting new as-yet-untitled book.

Books mentioned include:

Nicola Griffith, So Lucky

Nicola Griffith, Hild

Nicola Griffith, The Aud Torvingen mysteries

Sigrid Undset, Olav Audunssøn: The Vow, translated by Tiina Nunnally

Maggie Brookes, The Prisoner’s Wife

Octavia Butler, Kindred

Patrick O’Brian, The Aubrey/Maturin novels

Mary Stewart, The Crystal Cave

Rosemary Sutcliffe, Sword at Sunset

Mary Renault, Fire from Heaven

Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising

Sarah Waters, Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet

Ellen Galford, Moll Cutpurse: Her True History