logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2024
38m 35s

Jean Hanff Korelitz on "The Sequel"

The New York Times
About this episode

In 2021, the novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz had a hit with “The Plot,” a book that was partly a mystery, partly a thriller and entirely a delicious sendup of the publishing industry. It told the tale of a once-promising writer, Jacob, who steals somebody else’s story idea and reaches undreamed-of levels of success before things go very badly for him.

Korelitz’s new novel, “The Sequel,” is — yes — a sequel to “The Plot.” It follows Jacob’s widow, Anna, who has unexpectedly become a writer herself, only to be confronted with her own dark secrets. On this week’s episode, Korelitz talks with the host Gilbert Cruz about the writing life, the shape of her career and her decision to write a sequel to “The Plot.”

We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

Soon, you’ll need a subscription to keep full access to this show, and to other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.

Up next
Oct 3
The Sunday Special: The Books We Read in School
This week, the Book Review podcast presents an episode of The Sunday Special from early September.Book Review editor Gilbert Cruz talks with fellow word lover Sadie Stein and the author Louis Sachar (“Wayside School” series, “Holes”) about the books that they all read when they w ... Show More
39m 1s
Sep 26
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Pride and Prejudice'
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”So opens Jane Austen’s Regency-era romantic comedy “Pride and Prejudice,” which for centuries has delighted readers with its story of the five Bennet sisters and ... Show More
1h 5m
Sep 19
Mary Roach Loves Writing About Weird Science
The best-selling science journalist Mary Roach has written about sex and death and the digestive system — basically, all of the topics that children are taught to avoid in polite company. In her latest, “Replaceable You,” she examines prosthetics, robotics and other ways that tec ... Show More
37m 6s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2024
Episode One
A failing podcaster inherits a mansion that belonged to his estranged parents, and discovers that the strange caretaker of the property may be connected to a notorious murderer that supposedly haunts the property. As he tries to debunk the haunting in a podcast, he discovers ther ... Show More
28m 3s
Jan 2024
Episode 572 - Sammy Harkham
With his graphic novel, BLOOD OF THE VIRGIN (Pantheon), Sammy Harkham tells a story of personal and professional disintegration, against the backdrop of exploitation movies and the Iraqi Jewish diaspora in '70s L.A. We get into the obsessions and family lore that drove him to mak ... Show More
1h 31m
Aug 24
Fiction and the Fantastic: Stories by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges was a librarian with rock star status, a stimulus for magical realism who was not a magical realist, and a wholly original writer who catalogued and defined his own precursors. It’s fitting that he was fascinated by paradoxes, and his most famous stories are fan ... Show More
13m 16s
Jun 2025
Adventures in Publishing-land - Debut episode!
Watch as a full video episode on YouTube!Subscribe to Adventures in Publishing-land's own feed for future episodes or watch on YouTube!Welcome to the very first episode of Adventures in Publishing-land! Join us as we discuss some of the biggest (and strangest) stories in publishi ... Show More
56m 50s
Apr 2025
Emily Henry's latest novel 'Great Big Beautiful Life' explores love beyond romance
Known for books like Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry is the patron saint of millennial romance. But for her latest novel, the author says she wanted to challenge herself in a new way. Great Big Beautiful Life is a story within a story about two journalists ... Show More
9m 18s
Jul 21
Lulu Miller
Lulu Miller is a Peabody Award–winning journalist, co-host of Radiolab, founder of the podcast Terrestrials, and author of the acclaimed book Why Fish Don’t Exist. She joins to discuss her career at the intersection of science, philosophy, and storytelling, inviting us to questio ... Show More
1h 22m
Feb 2025
The Story of ‘Not Like Us’
A battle between two major artists has been dominating the world of music. It’s a fight over one song — a song that may get its biggest stage ever at this weekend’s Super Bowl.Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times, explains the feud between Kendrick Lamar and ... Show More
31m 6s
Mar 2024
The Case of the Two Nancy Drews
The biggest Nancy Drew mystery isn’t hidden in the plots of the books. It’s right there on the cover. If “Carolyn Keene” is a pseudonym, who really wrote the series? For 50 years, two women laid claim to that title. And in 1980, with help from an amateur detective, the truth came ... Show More
55m 16s
Feb 2022
57: On Our First Anniversary, Inventing Anna, Miu Miu Fatigue
On this week's episode, the ladies celebrate their year anniversary of the podcast, read one star reviews of the pod, as well as IMDB reviews for AJLT, the end of the Wendy Williams show, checking in on The View, Inventing Anna, Tinder Swindler, Vincent Gallo's harrowing return t ... Show More
50m 28s
Aug 22
Hollywood Jay with Kim Congdon
Previously on the Bonfire, Kim Congdon talked about a nameless comic who owes her money. A clip of that conversation went viral and now all hell has broke loose. Kim calls in to alert the gang that legal action might be taken against the show by her enemy. Jay and Bob plan what t ... Show More
1h 2m