Ursula Parrott, Winifred Boggs, unnamed characters – welcome to episode 117!
We are so delighted to welcome Lucy Scholes as a guest for this episode. She’s is a reprint/old books superstar – you might know her Re-Covered column for the Paris Review, her work as Senior Editor of McNally Editions, or her editing of A Different Sound: Stories of Mid-Century Women Writers. Or any number of other things. What excitement to have her on the episode!
In the first half, we discuss unnamed narrators and other characters – are we fans? In the second half we pit Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs against Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, both recently reprinted novels that are quite ahead of their time.
You can listen above or on Spotify or your podcast app of choice. You can support the podcast at Patreon or get in touch at teaorbooks[at]gmail.com.
The books and authors we mention in this episode are:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie
West With The Night by Beryl Markham
English Journey by Beryl Bainbridge
J.B. Priestley
Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier
A Flat Place by Noreen Masud
Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg
My Face For The World To See by Alfred Hayes
Foster by Claire Keegan
Making Love by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
The Forensic Records Society by Magnus Mills
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Milkman by Anna Burns
Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas
Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe
Mrs S by K Patrick
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Rebecca Watson
The Love Child by Edith Olivier
Elizabeth Bowen
They by Kay Dick
The Ice Age by Margaret Drabble
The Indignant Spinsters by Winifred Boggs
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
What an absolute treat! Thank you very much
Thanks Seonad!
This was very enjoyable! Another narrator who remains unnamed throughout his exceptionally long novel is the one in A la recherche du temps perdu.
Ah, I had forgotten and/or hadn’t realised that! (I haven’t read it, but I’ve read a couple books *about* it)
Really enjoyed the discussion about unnamed narrrators and great to have Lucy Scholes as a guest too. I did not manage to get a copy of Ex wife in time to read before the podcast but I still want to read it after listening. I would endorse all of your comments on Sally on the Rocks – I thought it was very good in combining emotional depth and commentary on the double standards for men and women, and the challenges facing women, with lots of comedy too. It was lovely to hear the impassioned responses that both books evoked.
Strangely (or maybe not so strangely since I have been following Simon’s ‘a book a day for May!), I finished reading The Buddha in the Attic yesterday. I’m hoping my reservation for Lucy at the library will come in time for the next episode.
Thanks to all three of you.
So glad you enjoyed Sally too. And I have my copy of Lucy out of my library too – nice and short, so you’ll be ready for the next ep in no time!
For a Bainbridge ‘historical’ novel I’d suggest The Birthday Boys. It’s about the Scott expedition to Antarctica… and it’s beautifully structured, beautifully written. It’s less than 200 pages long , without a superfluous word. I honestly don’t think of it as a historical novel, maybe because it’s set the year father was born!, and it isn’t full of genre cliches. No straining for verisimilitude.
Thanks Karen, good to know! I am running out of the non-historical ones