Lots of perspectives or a single narrative, and two 19th-century childhood memoirs – here we go!
In the first half of this episode, we discuss multi-narrative novels and whether or not we prefer them to single narrative novels. In the second half, we turn to memoirs of 19th-century childhood – Molly Hughes’ novel A London Child of the 1870s vs Gwen Raverat’s Period Piece.
You can rate and review the podcast wherever you download your podcasts (and we love it when you do!) You can also visit our Patreon page and explore the various options there, and see our iTunes page. I never quite know what the link does, but when I missed it out people noticed!
Do get in touch with ideas for future topics – and the books and authors we mentioned in this episode are:
Lonely City by Olivia Laing
To The River by Olivia Laing
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
On the Other Side by Mathilde Wolff-Monckeburg
Walter Scott
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Pax by Sara Pennypacker
Speaking of Love by Angela Young
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
How To Be Both by Ali Smith
Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Girl on the Train by Paul Hawkins
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
Barbara Comyns
Blue Remembered Hills by Rosemary Sutcliff
Vanessa Bell by Francis Spalding
A London Girl of the 1880s by Molly Hughes
A London Family Between the Wars by Molly Hughes
A London Home in the 1890s by Molly Hughes
The Runaway by Elizabeth Anna Hart
Mrs Woolf and the Servants by Alison Light
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Is it me or is Gwen Raverat missing from your list?
Period Piece was one of the very few school set books that I actually liked. I loved the scene in which the girls went up the river in a punt and had to hide their faces under their parasols when passing the nude bathing area. In later life, I used to think of Gwen’s mother – and the tedium of her visits to Downe – every time I had to visit my in-laws.
I’ve decided to stop adding the main discussion books to the list if they’re already mentioned earlier in the post :) How interesting to do this one at school!
Ah, I see – good idea.
I’m not sure if we did Period Piece because we had a set of the books already or because we weren’t that far from the village of Downe. Down House was one of those places your parents would drag you to on a Sunday afternoon (when you’d rather have been at home reading The Beano). We had a lot of those in the vicinity – Leeds Castle, Petworth, Chartwell, etc – but I think Down was favoured on the basis that it was not only pretty but also ‘educational’.
Gwen Raverat’s American mother wrote: ‘We are going to Down. Oh, you can’t imagine how dull these English country houses are. There is nothing at all to do there.’ That could have been me, over a century later.
I have both the Raverat and Hughes and needless to say haven’t read them. *Sigh*. Story of my life…
Interesting to hear your thoughts about the Laing, Simon – I’ll look forward to your review.
As usual, loved the podcast. You two are so funny and charming together.
I was thinking that Bleak House is a classic which is not epistolary but is told from multiple perspectives: 1. Esther Summerson in first person and 2. the omniscient narrator in third person.
That was a delightful podcast episode, as usual! :)
Rachel asked for ideas about books set in wartime Germany, so here’s one: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Although it’s a work of fiction, it’s incredibly authentic in its depiction of the common people who lived in Germany during the war, all of the people who didn’t vote for Hitler and opposed his ideology but were stuck there with all of the madness and evil going on around them. After reading the book (and watching the equally brilliant and beautiful movie), I wondered how Markus Zusak could have possibly known what it was like, how he could have written a book full of stories which match up perfectly with every single story that my grandparents have told me about what it was like for them as teenagers in Germany during the war. And then I read his bio and understood completely: his parents grew up in Germany and Austria during the war and related their experiences to him and his siblings. It’s beautifully written and heartbreaking and true and amazing.
May one for this games might give high possibilities of winning with
a player. The traditional forms of slots been recently played
by ages along the years, not new or different to look
forward to. http://c2Cheaponline.com/casinofreeslotgamesgreatblue576644
Great podcast as always! But your topic gave me a couple of ideas for possible future subjects — maybe single protagonists vs. multiple protagonists? It’s similar to multiple perspectives, but more likely told from the third person — that is, some books are mostly about one person’s story, some follow multiple people, like entire families.
It also reminded me of books that aren’t told in a linear fashion — I recently read The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard novel, which was written with sections told in reverse order. It starts at the end of a couple’s marriage, then each section goes back in time to important periods in their relationship. And some books jump around in order, though that may be another of those modern trends.