Thrown: SARA COX'S GLORIOUS FEELGOOD NOVEL

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Sheila: the nest is empty, there's a lonely little feeling in her tummy and her husband seems so distracted. It’s called Metronome. It’s quite different to what I go for but I really loved it. I thought it was by a woman because the female protagonist is so well written, but it’s by Tom Watson, an annoyingly young man. I loved Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry as well. This was followed by Love in the Countryside and regular turns fronting The One Show. Today, she’s more in demand than ever, but have those years of struggle shaped the person she is now? She has a garden office where she writes, but says Cyzer would come in between his own meetings for little chats. "He'd come in for office banter, but when you're writing you can't dip in and out of it. You really have to lose yourself in it." The metaphor of pottery is perfect for Thrown. Not only do many characters find themselves thrown by events, but they themselves are like the items made in the community centre. Some are more perfect than others. Many have flaws. Some are broken and every single person is unique. What I found so successful too, is the fact that at the end of the book, not every single plot element is resolved; just like real life not everyone gets a happy ending or knows exactly what will happen next.

It’s seen her metamorphose from the party girl with a penchant for goofing around, into something close to a national treasure – losing none of the irreverence and wit that made her stand out from the crowd in the first place. Jameela: all she’s ever done is work hard, and try her best. Why won’t life give her the one thing she wants? Little Shuggie Bain, bless him. He’s so sweet and so heartbreaking trying to look after his mum - it absolutely broke my heart – and I’m really excited about Douglas Stuart’s new book. The juicy bits are too juicy for consumption," she reveals, laughing. "I can't remember half of it, to be honest. I could put together a photo album from old copies of Heat magazine, so I could work out roughly what I was doing throughout the Nineties, but there would definitely be big gaps." But then I get offered other work that I really enjoy, so I have to work hard to say no to keep that work-life balance going. I got a horse in 2020, which forces me to take time out because I have to go out and ride, can't look at my phone and have to be in the moment. After a 30-year break, to have my own horse again is like some sort of therapy."

Becky

Which all makes it hard to believe that there was a time, not so long ago, when everything stalled for Cox and she was left wondering where her future lay. On returning to Radio 1 following her first maternity leave, in 2005, and having previously presented both the flagship Breakfast Show and Drivetime before that, she was handed weekend afternoons. Radio has always featured a lot of brilliant women and a lot of great female producers and execs. I've an all-female team - a female producer and female assistant producer - and it's a really supportive place to work." She's been hosting Drivetime since 2019, presents the weekly BBC Two book programme Between The Covers, and is currently hosting the new eight-part series Britain's Top Takeaways, in which the country's best independent takeaways go head to head. The assorted neighbours come together to try out a new skill, under the watchful eye of their charismatic teacher, Sasha. And as the soft unremarkable lumps of clay are hesitantly, lovingly moulded into delicate vases and majestic pots, so too are the lives of four women. Concealed passions and heartaches are uncovered, relationships shattered and formed, and the possibility for transformation is revealed. My Review of Thrown There were years where you could not get me arrested,’ she says, frankly. ‘My agent was amazing because, unless you put yourself in front of them, people do forget that you’re there. So she’d take me for a coffee and a biscuit with some commissioner, like she was trying to auction me off.

Whilst there is romance, this is not a love story. It is more a story about connecting with others, realising what we want from life and trying something new. It’s a story of friendship and every day life, full of little dramas and periods of calm. Four women, neighbours though not close enough to be friends. Brought together by a pottery class at the community centre, the story follows them through the space of a few weeks, dealing with what life has thrown at them.More than 25 years on from her presenting break on Channel 4’s The Girlie Show, book-writing is the latest plot twist in a varied career and, at the age of 47, Cox – who is mum to Lola, 18, Issac, 14, and Renee, 12 – is enjoying what is possibly the sweetest spot of her professional life to date. The characters were so fully formed and vividly described that they all came to life instantly for me and I felt completely invested in each of their stories. The pottery aspect was a very clever devise (and clearly the author has used her experience on the great pottery throw down to full advantage) and wove there stories all together seamlessly. I wish I was part of their class! The assorted neighbours come together to try out a new skill, under the watchful eye of their charismatic teacher, Sasha. And as the soft unremarkable lumps of clay are hesitantly, lovingly moulded into delicate vases and majestic pots, so too are the lives of four women. Concealed passions and heartaches are uncovered, relationships shattered and formed, and the possibility for transformation is revealed.