1. Monica Dickens - Mariana
In this episode, Amy and Kim launch the Lost Ladies of Lit podcast with a conversation on Mariana, the first novel by Monica Dickens (May 10, 1915 – December 25, 1992), the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. First published in 1940, and gorgeously reprinted by our favorite UK publisher Persephone Books, Mariana is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel of the “hot water bottle genre” set in the 1930s. In addition to discussing their appreciation for Mariana, Amy and Kim delve into the life of the author, who was a popular novelist in her day. They also play “casting directors” for an imaginary film adaptation of the book and chat about what else they’re reading in the midst of a global pandemic.
Discussed in this episode:
“Mariana” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
One Pair of Hands, Dickens’ memoir of working “downstairs” during the ’30s cocktail years
Dubonnet Cassis, the dubiously “sophisticated” cocktail our heroine Mary Shannon orders
One Pair of Feet, Dickens’ memoir of nursing during WWII
The House at World’s End, a children’s series by Monica Dickens
A 1978 article in The Washington Post with a description by Dickens of her childhood at Chilworthy, the Elizabethan country home where she spent holidays, and info on the suicide prevention bureau she started in Boston
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
Ellen Wood’s novel East Lynne, which was “devoured” by Joseph Conrad and the Prince of Wales
Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa: The History of a Young Lady
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Share your thoughts:
Email us at info@lostladiesoflit.com
Leave a comment below.