The Secrets That Inspired Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
Actress and writer Sheila Hancock has long been fascinated by the life and works of the Brontë sisters. In this programme, she searches for an answer to a puzzling question:…
Brontë Sisters: The Tragic Lives Of The Literary Icons
Tony Robinson is exploring the West Yorkshire Moors, known as Bronte country, to discover the inspiration behind the works of the legendary Bronte sisters. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte were…
Beatrix Potter: The Secret Life Of A Victorian Genius
Following in the footsteps of the Victorian publishing sensation, Patricia travels from London to Scotland and the Lake District to discover what fired Beatrix's imagination and where her love and…
In Search of Lost Stein
DESPITE HER REPUTATION as a long-winded writer, Gertrude Stein had a talent for pithiness. Of Oakland, the town where she grew up, she famously remarked: “There is no there, there.”…
Looking for Love in a Time of Global Loneliness: A Profile of Kiran Desai
Within the first few pages of The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai’s stunning new novel, the fissures among generations, cultures, classes, and countries become abundantly clear. When Dadaji…
Fugitive Love
Marguerite Young’s search for utopia
Dismantling the Mother Shelf: Expanding Our Thinking About Women’s Stories of Parenthood
When it comes to the Mother Shelf, it’s tempting to shrug our collective shoulders and say, Well, that’s just how book marketing works. But the uncomfortable truth is that publishers,…
Frankenstein inspired by suicide of Mary Shelley’s half-sister, book reveals
The twin tragedies alter the understanding of the themes of Frankenstein. It is often read as a warning about the perils of science, but as the daughter of Wollstonecraft, England’s…
My Brilliant Frenemy
The contentious bond between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz