Lionel Shriver - Author

It was word of mouth that propelled the novel We Need to talk about Kevin onto the best seller lists. It had been given very little publicity. Its author, Lionel Shriver, had struggled to find a publisher in the first place. It was deemed too dark and uncomfortable a read - the musings of a mother on the son she never really liked who turns into a mass killer.

Now the story has been made into a critically acclaimed film and is about to reach even larger audiences. HARDtalk's Sarah Montague asks why such an unnatural tale has proved so compelling?