From To The Lighthouse to Mrs Dalloway, the writing of Virginia Woolf shook up literary norms and challenged societal ideas about what it meant to be a woman. In this 'life of the week' episode, Francesca Wade discusses the impact of Woolf's work, and the key moments of her life – from her late-night soirées with the Bloomsbury Group and love affair with Vit ... Show More
Sep 20
The making of the modern Middle East
The Middle East has, for decades, been riven by violent conflict. But what are the roots and ongoing causes of this violence? In this episode, Simon Sebag Montefiore discusses The Cauldron, his new book exploring the forces and figures that forged the region. Speaking to Charlott ... Show More
46m 56s
Jun 2025
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Mrs. Dalloway" at 100
<p>“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”: So reads one of the great opening lines in British literature, the first sentence of Virginia Woolf’s classic 1925 novel, “Mrs. Dalloway.”</p><p>The book tracks one day in the life of an English woman, Clarissa Dalloway, ... Show More
42m 38s
Jun 2013
'The Village in the Jungle' as colonial memoir: Woolf writing home
Victoria Glendinning, biographer of Leonard Woolf, offers her insights from extensive archival research into the life of Woolf in Ceylon and Britain. She explores Woolf's relationship to the metropolitan centre through his movement out to the colonial periphery and back again, ex ... Show More
35m 8s