The year is 1816, and 18-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. They're on their way to visit Lord Byron's villa in Lake Geneva, Switzerland - and to change the course of literary history. In this episode, Jacke talks to Caroline Lea about her novel Love, Sex, and Frankenstein, which tells the haunting, e ... Show More
Nov 2
840 A History of the Romance Novel (with Dale DeBakcsy)
Dale DeBakcsy is an author, illustrator, essayist, instructor, and the creative mind behind the popular Women in Science column. He's also a lifelong fan of romance novels. In this episode, Jacke talks to Dale about his book A History of Romance Novels: From Trembling Innocents t ... Show More
34m 27s
Oct 26
839 Elizabeth Barrett Browning (with Fiona Sampson) | My Last Book with David Medina
In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe wrote, in a review of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's work, "Her poetic inspiration is the highest - we can conceive of nothing more august. Her sense of Art is pure in itself." Later that year, he dedicated his collection The Raven and Other Poems to her, c ... Show More
1h 25m
Oct 22
838 The Emerson Circle (with Bruce Nichols) | Life Hack! Could This Simple Trick Help You Read More?
What did Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, the Peabody sisters, and Nathaniel Hawthorne have in common? In addition to being literary luminaries who've been famous for nearly two hundred years, they all lived in Concord, ... Show More
1h 11m
Jun 2023
Mary Shelley Brings Frankenstein to Life
June 10, 1816. A storm settles over Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Stuck inside a romantic villa, five writers grow restless. Then one of them issues a challenge: Who among us can write the most terrifying ghost story? The group includes two of the most accomplished poets of the day – ... Show More
27m 36s
Oct 2022
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Special Two Hour Episode
<p>Tonight's sleep story is a special two hour episode of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Published in 1818, this novel, written by a teenaged Mary Shelley, is one of the most influential stories in literature and is possibly the first science fiction novel. In the episode, Captain ... Show More
1h 56m
Mar 2024
Special - The Gulf of poets: Byron, Keats and Shelly in Italy
A chance visit to the beautiful Ligurian town of Porto Venere, staying in a 900 year-old tower, Torre Capitolare (https://www.capitolare.com/) gave us the opportunity to meet not only with medieval history, the Republic of Genoa and Pisa, the Castle of the Doria, but also with th ... Show More
19m 4s
Oct 2025
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein [Book Club]
Mary Shelley published Frankenstein anonymously in 1818. She was later credited for her work, but the book's origin story is just as interesting as the novel itself. In the "year without a summer" of 1816, Mary joined her husband Percy and Lord Byron for a weekend away, where the ... Show More
30m 21s
Jul 2025
Close Readings: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley
Born from grief, exile, intellectual ferment and the ‘year without a summer’, Frankenstein is a creation myth with its own creation myth. Mary Shelley’s novel is a foundational work of science fiction, horror and trauma narrative, and continues to spark reinvention and reinterpre ... Show More
34m 21s
Feb 2024
The Invisible Girl by Mary Shelley
<p>From the author of Frankenstein, a gothic tale of a doomed romance. If you enjoy scary stories like this, hear more on our sister podcast, Just Chills. Search for Just Chills in your favourite podcast app or <a href="https://pod.link/1709713164" rel="noopener noreferrer" ... Show More
36m 8s