logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
27m 1s

Book Club Meets: Career pivots, true cri...

Fearne Cotton
About this episode

Would you choose uncertainty over unhappiness? Happy Place Book Club novel, The List of Suspicious Things, is the first book Jennie Godfrey has written. She was working in a corporate job before she had a moment of clarity and quit her job with no plan B to become a writer.

 

In this chat with Fearne, Jennie explains why, having suffered with anxiety, she took control and chose an uncertain future over an unhappy present, with a little help from an episode of Happy Place...!

 

The List of Suspicious Things centres around the murders of the Yorkshire Ripper. It sounds like a grim subject, but this story – told through the eyes of a young teenage girl – is incredibly warm and charming. Jennie also reveals her family’s own connection to Peter Sutcliffe, the man known at the time as the Yorkshire Ripper.

 

Plus, you’ve been sending your voice notes, reminiscing about the teenage culture of the 1970s.

 

Join the Happy Place Book Club on Instagram @happyplacebookclub – DM your messages and voicenotes about May’s read, Sociopath, to have your thoughts shared on the podcast!

 

...and don’t worry, there are no plot spoilers in this episode!


Listen to Daisy May Cooper's episode.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
Tess Daly: “I’m rubbish at switching off!” Take your holiday wellness seriously
How good are you at switching off on holiday? Are you even any good at taking a proper holiday in the first place? Broadcaster Tess Daly reckons wellness is being physically and mentally able to turn up for everything in life that demands your time... And that includes prioritisi ... Show More
37m 15s
Jul 7
Dita Von Teese: “You don’t look like a Playboy girl!” How to value your unique differences
Do you find stripping and nudity empowering or degrading? Burlesque performer Dita Von Teese says feminism is about respecting each other’s choices, even if they wouldn’t be your own.In this chat with Fearne, Dita charts her life from working in strip clubs in the 90s, to perform ... Show More
54m 5s
Jul 4
Book Club Meets: Sliding doors and the power of a name, with Florence Knapp
Has your name influenced who you’ve become? Would you have different characteristics, would people react differently to you, would your life have turned out differently, if you had a different name? These are the questions author Florence Knapp grapples with in her book The Names ... Show More
30m 5s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2021
BOOK CLUB: Just Like You
G’day book club friends!!! This month, we read best-selling author Nick Hornby’s eighth novel, Just Like You. The book follows two protagonists, 22-year-old Joseph and 42-year-old Lucy, who fall in love despite coming from two different worlds. Joseph is a young Black DJ trying t ... Show More
37m 39s
Jan 2023
Encore Episode: Gucci Kneepads & Not Giving a F*** with Jill Kargman
Jill Kargman is not your neighborhood soccer mom and she doesn’t play one on TV, either. Her dark sense of humor and love of all things goth might put her out of place at most “mommy and me” gatherings, but this is especially true on the swanky Upper East Side where she originate ... Show More
32m 40s
Jun 2023
12: From Parties to Projective Identification: Why is Group Life so Hard? feat. Christine Smallwood
Abby and Patrick welcome novelist and literary critic Christine Smallwood, author of The Life of the Mind. They discuss the novel’s protagonist Dorothy (who hires a second therapist to talk about her relationship with her first therapist) and Christine’s approach to psychoanalysi ... Show More
2h 14m
Jan 2022
New Non-Fiction Writers to Look Out For in 2022 with Nihal Arthanayake
Last time we brought you some of the most exciting debut novelists to look out for in 2022, so this week we're introducing you to some of the best new non-fiction writers to add to your reading list this year. It's a veritable treasure chest of books, from a comic memoir to ornit ... Show More
34m 47s
Mar 2024
Katie Price - ‘Everything bad that’s ever happened to me is because of men’
TW: this episode contains discussion of sexual assault and suicide. In the 90s you might have known Katie Price as ‘Jordan’ - featured on page three, known for her succession of plastic surgeries and her complicated personal life. But, in reality, she is so much more than the car ... Show More
50m 2s
Nov 2021
From cancer to #MeToo: How Katie wrote about the hard stuff in her memoir
This week on Next Question with Katie Couric, part 2 of Katie’s behind-the-scenes look at the making of her memoir, “Going There.” Last week introduced listeners to her book team, Lucy Kaylin and Adriana Fazio (if you haven’t listened to that episode yet, go check it out first fo ... Show More
40m 13s
Jul 2022
Best Of: Ruth Ozeki’s Enchanted Relationship to Minds and Possessions
Today we're taking a short break and re-releasing one of our favorite episodes from 2022, a conversation with the novelist and Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki. We'll be back with new episodes next week!The world has gotten louder, even when we’re alone. A day spent in isolation can st ... Show More
58m 40s
Sep 2019
Mrs. Sherlock Holmes
In 1917, 18-year-old Ruth Cruger disappeared. She’d last been seen getting her ice skates sharpened in the motorcycle shop of a man named Alfredo Cocchi. Newspapers reported that she probably ran off with a boyfriend, and New York police said that there were no clues to go on. Bu ... Show More
30m 31s
Jun 2024
Chocolate, Covid and Cancer
Catherine meets a woman whose life is affected by cancer. Catherine Carr stops strangers to ask them “Where Are You Going?” and uncovers unexpected stories about people’s lives.---Named 'Podcast of the Year' by Radio Times and picked as 'Best Podcasts of the Year 2023' by the Fin ... Show More
9m 18s