When it comes to Shakespeare's biography and his inner life, there's a certain lack of evidence. But what if Shakespeare actually signposted us to an event that radically metamorphosed his world? What if he named his most famous, most acclaimed play Hamlet after his son, Hamnet, who died at the age of 11? In this editi

Award-winning writer Maggie O’Farrell on the role that Arvon played in her early writing career how she crafts her novels today and the mindset that has led her to persist as a writer over the years and why she doesn’t worry about how she is perceived. She also reads from her latest book The Marriage Portrait.  This in

As tons of us in the Jen Hatmaker Book Club can agree, a good book is a bit of a refuge at any time of the year, but especially in the swirl of the holidays. It's just stealing away minutes for our mind to not be thinking about planning and gifting and gatherings and shopping and cooking–not to mention expectations and

“They have traveled for most of the day using what little daylight the season offers leaving Ferrara Dawn and riding out to what he had told her was a hunting lodge, far in the northwest of the province. 'But this is no hunting lodge' is what Lucrezia had wanted to say when they reach their destination, a high walled e

The latest novel from Hamnet author Maggie O'Farrell tells the story of Lucrezia de Medici, a young girl who is betrothed to a duke against her will. And though at first her new husband seems charming, Lucrezia soon comes to suspect that he means to kill her. O'Farrell joins us to discuss her new novel, The Marriage Po

We love to treat our listeners to the most sought after books and in a podcast world premiere we’re celebrating the launch of Maggie O’Farrell’s hotly anticipated, soon to be chart-smashing historical novel, The Marriage Portrait. That's right, this is the first podcast in the WORLD where you can hear an extract from t