Podcast Episodes

The Jane Austen Heist Draft

Welcome to the Jane Austen heist draft, in which each of us will build a six-member crew of Jane Austen characters to perpetrate a heist, Oceans 11 style. In this case, we’re stealing back a long los…

Published on 9 months, 1 week ago

A Tale of Two Cities: Final Chapters

And so we come to the end of Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities! In this episode, we discuss the sometimes complicated nature of reading and writing historical fiction, the way Dickens ratchets up…

Published on 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Now Available to Pre-order: "The Divided Soul: Duty and Desire in Literature and Life" by Heidi White

In this very special episode we go behind-the-scenes with Heidi on her forthcoming book! What’s the origin story? Why is the topic so important to her? What was it like to write? How’s she feeling no…

Published on 9 months, 3 weeks ago

A Tale of Two Cities: Book 3, Chapters 1-8

Welcome back to our ongoing series on Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities! This week we’re chatting about scenes that make this section exciting, the political context of the story, what Dickens’ w…

Published on 9 months, 3 weeks ago

A Tale of Two Cities: To the End of Book 2

Welcome back! It’s French Revolution time (i.e., Dickens does history). Also, Lucy and Darnay discuss Sidney’s sadness, Lucy and Darnay have children, and ultimately Darnay leaves. We discuss. Happy…

Published on 10 months ago

A Tale of Two Cities: Book 2, Chapters 14-19

It’s the episode in which we dig into the ways Dickens uses different tones of voice in various sections, the way his writing creates a tableau-like effect, how the serialization of the story should …

Published on 10 months, 1 week ago

A Tale of Two Cities: Part 2, Chapters 7-13

Welcome back to our ongoing conversation about Charles Dickens’ classic novel! In this episode, we discuss what the book is revealing itself to be about, the question of villainy in the story, the im…

Published on 10 months, 2 weeks ago

A Tale of Two Cities: Book 2, Chapters 1-6

We’re back with another conversation on Charles Dickens’ classical novel, and this time we discuss the introduction of Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay—and the way Dickens employs doubling to develop…

Published on 10 months, 3 weeks ago

A Tale of Two Cities: Book 1, Chapters 1-6

Over the years, many of you have asked us to discuss a Dickens novel and it’s finally time! Over the next several episodes we are going to dig into A Tale of Two Cities. But fair warning: as we get i…

Published on 11 months ago

The Bridge of San Luis Rey Q&A

You had questions about The Bridge of San Luis Rey; we did our best to answer them. Thanks for tuning in to this series!

Up next: A Tale of Two Cities.

Please note: no video for this episode.

Published on 11 months ago