This week we discuss Sylvia Townsend Warner's Lolly Willowes. The illustrious Simon Thomas, our first-ever guest, helps us understand how the 1920s trend for the fantastic helped produce this weird, wonderful book about a spinster aunt who sells her soul to Satan. But is it satire? And is it really a feminist manifesto? We tackle these and other pertinent questions while having a laugh along the way. Butter your villager-shaped scones, sit back and enjoy the broomstick ride.
Musician and author John Darnielle joins us to discuss A House and Its Head by Ivy Compton-Burnett, a wickedly funny novel first published in...
Max Lawton joins us to discuss his new translation of Vladimir Sorokin's Blue Lard, a controversial Russian novel originally published in 1999. We talk...
Dylan and Kassia unpack Stefan Zweig's Chess Story translated from German by Joel Rotenberg. They toy with some chess pieces, discuss the psychological effects...
