This week, we’re talking about the 18th century actress, novelist and publisher, Eliza Haywood with Dr. Glynis Ridley. We also discuss our surprising reaction to Haywood’s Fantomina.

Team Eliot, your day has finally come! This week, we’re all about Mary Ann Evans. First up, Lauren interviews George Eliot expert Dr. Ruth Livesey. And then Hannah and Sam take the show on a mini road trip to Eliot country.

This week, we’re talking to Austen scholars and friends Danielle Spratt and Bridget Draxler. These gals met at Chawton House and have gone on to author the book Engaging in the Age of Austen. We chat about reading historical fiction through contemporary eyes, Henry Tilney, and yes, Mansfield Park does come up. This might be a Mansfield Park podcast now. Apologies.

In this FINAL Mansfield Park episode! This week, we’re discussing listener comments and comparing Mansfield Park to Wives and Daughters. We also discuss our upcoming short story read-alongs for the Fall.

In addition to being one of the first African American novelists, Frances Harper was also a teacher, abolitionist, suffragist, poet and orator. We’re discussing her amazing career with academic Joanna Ortner, who has turned up some excellent Harper discoveries while working on her dissertation.

Special thanks to Stacey Thomas for her reading of Harper’s Bury Me In a Free Land.

This week, we are talking about the FASCINATING Eaton sisters with Dr. Karen Skinazi from the University of Bristol. We can’t even sum these women up in a clever and concise way because they just did SO MUCH -- I mean, Winnifred was a rancher on top of being a bestselling novelist and Hollywood screenwriter -- so just listen to the episode!

Also, for those of you that are playing 6 degrees of HBS with us, here ya go: Winnifred Eaton --- Jean Webster --- Mark Twain --- Harriet Beecher Stowe. Take a shot!

Are you ready for even MORE Mansfield Park? This week, we’re talking to Dr. Patricia Matthew about abolitionist literature and how it links to Mansfield Park. We also discuss The Woman of Color and Amma Assante’s Belle.

This week, we’re continuing our Mansfield Park discussion with esteemed Brit Lit experts Devoney Looser and George Justice. Follow George and Devoney on Twitter @devoneylooser and @ProfGeoJustice.

It’s the first episode of our Mansfield Park read-along and boy do we have a treat for you! Hannah interviews Dr Helena Kelley, author of Jane Austen the Secret Radical, and talks all things Austen and Mansfield Park. There are a lot of Henry Crawford feelings.

This week, we tried out some Victorian recipes from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management and it went great! And by great, I mean Hannah had a meltdown. We also talk to Maria Damkjaer, author of Time, Domesticity and Print Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain, about Isabella Beeton and the making of Mrs. Beeton’s.