Twins separated by the role of a dice, the rise of AI, and a mystery behind lives trying to hold it together in a lonely fractured world.  These are just a few of the themes discussed with Claire Nichols about A Rising of the Lights, the latest darkly comic novel from the Booker Prize shortlisted author Steve Toltz.

Ian Kemish has used his considerable knowledge as a former Australian diplomat to write a debut that is ultimately about compassion. In Two Islands a young man flees the Balkan conflict to an isolated island on the west coast of Scotland. What does he find there and is he safe?