Cal Flyn, Deputy Editor

Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn is a writer from the Highlands of Scotland.

Her latest book, Islands of Abandonment—about the ecology and psychology of abandoned places—is out now. It has been shortlisted for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize, the Wainwright Prize for writing on global conservation, the British Academy Book Prize, and for the title of Scottish Nonfiction Book of the Year.

At Five Books, she interviews on subjects including literary fiction and nonfiction, psychology, nature, environment, and science fiction.

Interviews by Cal Flyn

Historical Novels with Strong Female Leads, recommended by Kate Mosse

Female stories often went unrecorded in history—but that’s not because there weren’t any, explains Kate Mosse, the acclaimed novelist and nonfiction writer. Here, she explores the role of fiction in illuminating historical events when the written record is thin, and recommends five novels with strong female protagonists that have influenced her own work.

The Best Popular Science Books of 2025: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Sandra Knapp

Every year, the judges for the Royal Society Book Prize search for the most informative and most readable new books on scientific subjects. In 2025, their shortlist of the best popular science books includes a history of extinction in the colonial world, and the heartrending story of the struggle to save the world’s first seed bank during the Siege of Leningrad. We spoke to the botanist Dr Sandra Knapp, chair of the judging panel.

The Best John le Carré Books, selected by Nick Harkaway

John le Carré—often credited as the best spy novelist of all time—wrote 26 books over the course of his career. We asked Nick Harkaway, his son and the author of Karla’s Choice (the best spy thriller of 2024, according to our interview with spy book expert Shane Whaley), to select the five best John le Carré novels: from the Cold War espionage stories that made his name to more contemporary thrillers set in a world of international crime syndicates.

The Best Historical Biography: The 2025 Elizabeth Longford Prize, recommended by Roy Foster

A good historical biography should help us redefine and rethink what makes a person historically significant, says Roy Foster, chair of the judging panel of the Elizabeth Longford Prize. He talks us through the brilliant books that made the 2025 shortlist, including the lives of various monarchs who left their mark on European history, a portrait of an early modern spymaster, and a biography of Frantz Fanon, the anti-colonial writer.  

The Best Historical Fiction Set in the 18th Century, recommended by Ariel Lawhon

It was the century of the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution. In the Scottish Highlands, there were multiple rebellions in favour of the deposed Stuart dynasty. Ariel Lawhon, author of The Frozen River, recommends five of her favorite novels set in the 18th century, a tumultuous era that doesn’t always get the shelf space it deserves when it comes to historical fiction.