Story Girls

S2 Episode 3: To Love and Be Wise

This fortnight we are talking about Josephine Tey's To Love and Be Wise, starring the immensely lovable Detective Alan Grant. This is an underappreciated mystery novel by an underappreciated author, in our humble opinions!

Josephine Tey is the dark horse of this season, and the author we have shoehorned into our "Queens of Crime" category (displacing the better-known Agatha Christie). Her works are subtle and layered, and we hope that you will give them a try!

                                       

 

Show Notes:

Here is a link to a recent biography of Tey, Josephine Tey: A Life, by Morag Henderson.

You can read more about Ronald Knox's Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction here. Please do also read the footnote for context about #5.

16 Times Brad Pitt Dressed Exactly Like His Girlfriends.

A link to Phoebe Hessel's Wikipedia entry.

More ladies who lived as men throughout history. See also the excellent podcast Deviant Women, particularly their episodes on Isabelle Eberhardt, Anne Bonny & Mary Read, Hatshepsut, and Catalina de Erauso.

Thanks again to Rob Muir for our theme song, original intro music, and tech support!

 

S2 Episode 2: A Surfeit of Lampreys

Our first Queen of Crime is Ngaio Marsh, who was a prolific New Zealand author of the Golden Age, penning 32 books featuring her dapper detective "Handsome Alleyn," as well as a plethora of short stories, stage plays, and non-fiction. We have chosen her witty and surprising novel A Surfeit of Lampreys to hook you in to her work, if you happen to be unfamiliar with it. It's a good one!

You can learn more about Ngaio Marsh here.

Here is a link to the Ngaio Marsh Theatre at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch NZ, and here is a link to the Ngaio Marsh House and Heritage Trust.

We think it's gross, but if you want to learn more about jewellery made out of human hair, have at 'er.

Here is a link to Ngaio Marsh's autobiography, Black Beech and Honeydew.

You can read all about how King Henry I was killed by a surfeit of lampreys here. While we're at it, let's get some background on humorism, and also on lampreys.

And, just to get even more macabre, here is an article about The Hand of Glory. No one expects The Hand of Glory!

Thanks as always to Rob Muir for our theme song, original intro music and all things audio. And thanks to you for listening!

S2 Episode 1: Queens of Crime & The Golden Age of Detective Fiction

 

 Welcome to Season 2! This season we are taking a look at four excellent female writers from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction: Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers.

These authors were writing fiercely intelligent, wonderfully witty, and extraordinarily astute mystery novels in the 1920s and 1930s. Join us for a romp through the Golden Age, feminist-style!

Season 2 Reading List:
A Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey
More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers

Castle Minisode 3: Nod to Maud

 Welcome to our third and final Castle Minisode! This wraps up our first season, so tune in to get your final fix of castles before we move on to season 2! (Spoiler: this minisode has literally nothing to do with castles.)

This past autumn we had the pleasure of traveling to The Book Drunkard Literary Festival in Uxbridge, Ontario, where we visited the Leaskdale Manse, the longtime home of L.M. Montgomery. We attended the Nod to Maud event, which included a talk from Montgomery's granddaugher Kate MacDonald Butler on the theme of...FEMINISM!!

Was Maud a feminist? What was her feminist legacy? What would she have thought of the #MeToo movement? Needless to say, this was an event that was right up our alley.

Join us for our final Castle minisode, where we will tell you about this fantastic event, as well as do a little Q&A with each other in our own personal Nod to Maud and her books.

Castle Minisode 2: Studio Ghibli

For this episode, we are diverting a wee bit from books and authors to give a shout out to Studio Ghibli. This Japanese film production company is a maker of beautiful, whimsical movies that are pure delight.

 As we mentioned in our Howl's Moving Castle episode, that book was adapted by Studio Ghibli into a film that provokes a bit of disagreement between us! But we both agree that overall the Ghibli films are magical and well worth seeking out.

In this minisode we discuss what we love about Ghibli movies, some of our most and least favourites, and recommend some to start out with if you are new to these films.

We hope you enjoy!

Castle Minisode 1: Isabella Valancy Crawford

Hello, folks! After a little break over the winter holidays, we are baaack!

To tide you over until our Season 2 debut, we humbly offer the first of three minisodes, which will be released weekly for the next three Wednesdays. These are all mini-episodes that tie, in one way or another, into the books from our Castle theme.
 

This first minisode is a short biography of Isabella Valancy Crawford. Never heard of her? We're not surprised! Crawford was a feisty and significant figure in Canadian literature in the late 19th Century, and her story touches on lots of fascinating things, from the "women question" of the era to the Victorian sensation novel, to the colonial idea of a "national literature" and the problematic representation of Indigenous people in the writing of the time.

Join us as we take a look at this forgotten female writer who was taking on the snobbery of CanLit way back in 1884!

Episode 4: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Well folks, buckle in for an extra-long, extra-rambling episode! We get pretty engrossed in our discussion of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and TBQH, our bowl of prompts kinda goes out the window.

But fear not! Well, fear a little. Shirley Jackson is, after all, the goddess of terror. This is a gloriously creepy, Gothic tale of sisterhood, anxiety, murder, madness, revenge, and...preserves? 

Our standard spoiler alert stands, but this time multiply it by about a thousand. Definitely, definitely read this one before listening! You do not want this story spoiled.

Content warning for discussions of mental illness, murder, and suicide.

 Show Notes

Here is a link to the terrific podcast Deviant Women, and the episode that they did on Shirley Jackson. For an intro into her life and work, start here! And, while you're at it, check out the rest of their fantastic biographies.

The goodreads review that we mention can be found here. Worth a read!

If you're interested, a primer on Gothic literature.

On a side note, an interesting article about the recent adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, and what some of the issues with it are.

Thanks to Rob Muir for our theme song, original intro music, and all things audio!

Episode 3: I Capture the Castle

Episode 3 is a deep dive into Dodie Smith's classic coming-of-age story, I Capture the Castle.

Full of summery vibes, starry nights, and swan-filled moats, this novel is bursting with charm. Its witty and insightful narrator, Cassandra, is just one of a brilliant cast of characters who manage to be both hilariously eccentric and utterly believable.

Spoilers abound, so be sure to read first and listen after!

 

 

Show Notes

The version of Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy that we play at the beginning and mid-episode is a public domain recording by the generous and talented Amber Short of PMG Projects.

Dodie Smith wrote 4 volumes of autobiography: Look Back with Love (1974), Look Back with Mixed Feelings (1978), Look Back with Astonishment (1979), and Look Back with Gratitude (1985). The excellent small press Slightly Foxed has a lovely edition of Look Back with Love.

The Starlight Barking is an absolutely magical sequel to The Hundred and One Dalmatians.  Read it now, don't delay! Oh, and don't forget about The Midnight Kittens. And, apologies for saying that the dogs in The Starlight Barking "whoosh." In fact, they "swoosh."

We definitely show our ignorance in this episode about Abelard and Heloise, who we later discovered were a famous pair of 12th Century lovers. Read up on their fascinating and tragic story here.

In case you are unfamiliar with bull terriers and would like a visual:

We mention Canadian hockey commentator Don Cherry in this episode. Since recording, he has been fired from Sportsnet following a hate-filled speech. We are pleased to have "booed" him in our episode.

 For some context around the comments about Margaret Atwood, check out the incredible podcast Secret Feminist Agenda, specifically episodes 1.8 and 2.1. The host Hannah McGregor excellently articulates some long-standing issues about Atwood as a public figure, and about her work, in a way that really resonated with us.

 And finally, thanks as always to Rob Muir for our theme music, and all things audio!

 

Episode 2: Howl's Moving Castle

Episode 2 carries on with some fairy tale motifs, as we explore another favourite: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Some people may know this title because of the Studio Ghibli animated film of the same name, but trust us—watching the film is no substitute for reading this fantastic book.

As always, spoiler warning! Read first, listen after. :)

Show Notes:
If you'd like to learn more about Diana Wynne Jones than we provided in our cursory intro, there is a wonderful collection of her autobiographical writings called Reflections: On the Magic of Writing. These papers were selected by Diana Wynne Jones herself and published posthumously.

The book blog that we mention, things mean a lot, hasn't been updated since 2017, but the archives have some excellent reviews and recommendations. Check it out!

What is a Pentstemmon? Well, as it turns out, nothing. However a penstemon is a flower, also known as a beardtongue. Make of that what you will.

Here is a link to the full text of John Donne's "Song", in case you want to check out the misogynistic third verse for yourself.

Not mentioned in the episode, but Folio Society recently published a glorious illustrated edition of Howl's Moving Castle, and last year they held a contest to find an illustrator. Here are some of the stunning submissions. Which are your faves?

Thanks to Rob Muir for the theme song, original intro music, and all things audio!

 

Episode 1: The Blue Castle

To kick off the podcast, we dive into an old favourite of ours—The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

If you haven't read this enchanting, fable-esque story that is a love song to Muskoka (as well as a love song to love itself), then we highly, highly recommend that you drop everything and rush out to read it.

This episode contains spoilers, so consider yourself warned!

 

Show Notes:
The illustrations that we love of The Blue Castle are by New Zealand-based artist Masako Kubo.

Here is a pic of the much-debated eyebrows belonging to iconic film star Vivien Leigh. They certainly do seem Barneyish.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of Maud's cat Good Luck, who inspired Barney's obsessively loveable cat of the same name:

Photo from L.M. Montgomery Collection, Archival Collections,
University of Guelph Library

 

Also, a link to the Bustle article where we sourced our historical sex euphemisms.

 

Books referenced:
The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Harvesting Thistles: The Textual Garden of L.M. Montgomery, ed. Mary Henley Rubio
Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings by Mary Henley Rubio

 

Thanks to Rob Muir for our theme song, original intro music, and all things audio!