Hardly anyone knows Ursula Parrott today, but not long ago she was close to being a household name. As a bestselling novelist of the Roaring Twenties and beyond, Parrott's life was filled with literature, celebrity, and scandal. In this episode, Jacke talks to Parrott's biographer Marsha Gordon (Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writi ... Show More
Today
752 The Brontes' Sibling Rivalry (with Catherine Rayner) | My Last Book with Keith Cooper
Charlotte Brontë wasn't born the eldest child, but she was thrust into a leadership role at the age of ten, as the Brontë children dealt with the tragic deaths of their mother and two eldest sisters. How did this affect their family dynamic? And when the younger two sisters, Emil ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 20
751 Covering Iran's Women-Led Uprising (with Nilo Tabrizy) | My Last Book with Sharmila Sen
In September 2022, a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jîna Amini, died after being beaten by police officers who arrested her for not adhering to the Islamic Republic’s dress code. Her death galvanized thousands of Iranians—mostly women—who took to the streets in one of the country’s l ... Show More
1h 2m
Nov 17
750 A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (with Mark Cirino) | Joyce Carol Oates vs the Trillionaire | My Last Book with Ken Krimstein
It's the 750th episode of the History of Literature, and what better way to celebrate than to talk some Hemingway with repeat guest Mark Cirino? In this episode, Jacke talks to Mark about Hemingway's classic love-and-war novel A Farewell to Arms, including the recent Norton Libra ... Show More
1h 28m
Jan 2025
The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton
<p><em>In a distant, semi-barbaric kingdom, a young lover’s fate hinges on a cruelly ingenious trial: choosing between two doors, one hiding a ferocious tiger and the other concealing a beautiful bride. As the Kings daughter secretly signals her beloved toward a door, we are left ... Show More
21m 6s
Dec 2024
Catherine Howard | Secret Lives of the Six Wives
<p>Henry VIII called her his 'rose without a thorn', but the teenage Catherine Howard was to fall out of favour less than 18 months after becoming Queen of England.</p><br><p>Out of all of Henry's wives it could be argued that the young queen, who was a cousin of Anne Boleyn, is ... Show More
37m 38s
Feb 2025
Anne Enright Reads John McGahern
Anne Enright joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Sierra Leone,” by John McGahern, which was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Enright, a winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, among others, has published eleven books of fiction ... Show More
1h 7m
Aug 2021
Margaret Cavendish's "A Lady Dressed by Youth"
<strong>Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne</strong> (1623 – 15 December 1673) was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer and playwright. She published in her own name at a time when most women writers remained anonymous.<br/><hr><p style="co ... Show More
6m 11s
Oct 5
Introducing: Jane Austen Stories
This is a preview of a brand-new audiobook from the Noiser Podcast Network. Join Dame Julie Andrews as she reads Jane Austen’s most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. Step into a world of humour, heartbreak, scandal and romance - all set in the rural landscapes of 19th-century En ... Show More
42m 41s
Apr 2025
Close Readings: 'Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray
Thackeray's comic masterpiece, 'Vanity Fair', is a Victorian novel looking back to Regency England as an object both of satire and nostalgia. Thackeray’s disdain for the Regency is present throughout the book, not least in the proliferation of hapless characters called George, ye ... Show More
33m 7s
Jul 2025
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'The Catch,' by Yrsa Daley-Ward
<p>In this month’s installment of the Book Review Book Club, we’re discussing “The Catch,” the debut novel by the poet and memoirist Yrsa Daley-Ward. The book is a psychological thriller that follows semi-estranged twin sisters, Clara and Dempsey, who were babies when their mothe ... Show More
52m 25s
Sep 2024
Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts
<p>Ellen and Mom discuss the faeries, flirting, and fantastical in Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts. Plus, ancestry, football, and spelling. <br/><br/>Come hang out with us! <br/>Twitter/Instagram: @notyourmomsrom<br/>Facebook Group: Not Your Mom's Facebook Group<br/>Emai ... Show More
1h 6m
Sep 17
Vanity of Henry VIII with Kate Lister
With six wives, Henry VIII must have had something going for him, right? Was he handsome? Charming? Intelligent? Just plain powerful? In this episode, the tables are turned on Professor Suzannah Lipscomb as she becomes the guest of Dr. Kate Lister on our sister podcast, Betwixt t ... Show More
44m 16s