Join me this week as I curl up with tea from my Bird and Blend advent calendar, enjoying the festive season as I wrap up my Goodreads Reading Challenge for the year. Listen as I discuss the art of storytelling, adventure into Hell, and contemplate opportunities for women in Victorian London.

This week I'll be considering The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a fast paced bestseller based in a retirement village. Discovering a new perspective on sin as I explore Hell with Dante in Inferno. And rereading some old favourites with Philip Pullman; The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North. Leaving the literary world behind, we will also be discussing THAT ending to the new Stranger Things episodes and a unique take on Shakespeare with Liz Duffy Adams' Born With Teeth.

References Made

Bird and Blend - Tea company known for its creative flavours.

Land of Mist and Magic (Philip Parker) - Book of British myths and folklore published by the British Library.

Hatchards - Piccadilly based bookshop founded in 1797. Oldest bookshop in the UK.

Fortnum and Mason - Piccadilly based department store founded in 1707. Tourist trap.

St David - Patron saint of Wales, often connected with leeks.

Oxford and Cambridge Club - Members club on Pall Mall founded in 1821 for students and graduates of Oxford or Cambridge.

World of Books - British online second hand book retailer.

Hallmarked Man (Robert Galbraith) - Latest in crime series about detectives Strike and Ellacott set in 2010s London. Written by J. K. Rowling.

Strange Houses - Japanese mystery bestseller written by YouTuber Uketsu.

Virgil - Augustinian Latin poet most famous for The Aeneid. 

The Odyssey - Ancient Greek epic poem by Homer about the ten year journey of Odysseus home to Ithica after the Trojan War.

The Aeneid - Latin epic written by Virgil in the style of Homer about proto-Roman hero Aeneas.

George R R Martin - American fantasy author most famous for The Game of Thrones.

The Book of Dust - Fantasy series by Philip Pullman, set before and after His Dark Materials.

His Dark Materials - Trilogy by Philip Pullman set in a world where souls are on the outside of people’s bodies.

East India Company - British joint-stock company, running between 1600–1858, connected with colonialism. 

Bram Stoker - Gothic author most famous for Dracula.

Sally Lockhart series - BBC One series airing in 2006 and 2007.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Third Harry Potter book, written by J. K. Rowling.

Testament of Youth - Memoir written by Vera Brittain about her time at Oxford and as a nurse in the First World War.

Dungeons and Dragons - Fantasy Tabletop Role Play Game first published in 1974.

Weta Workshop and Weta Digital - New Zealand based creative company working with film, television and video game companies.

The Lord of the Rings - Written by J. R. R. Tolkien. Adapted for film by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, directed by Peter Jackson.

Avatar - James Cameron film about brutality towards indigenous communities. Set on another planet.

The Adventures of Tintin - 2011 film based on the Tintin comic series by Hergé.

Panto - British Christmas tradition. Comedic play typically starring a man in drag.

Love Actually - British classic Christmas movie written and directed by Richard Curtis.

Donut Drive - Finella Waddilove’s latest play. A two-hander set in Essex.

Snatch - Early movie by British director Guy Ritchie. Starring Brad Pitt as a bare knuckle boxer.

Guy Ritchie - British crime film director and screenwriter. 

Henry VI - One of Shakespeare’s Histories. Supposedly co-written.

Marlowe - Elizabethan playwright known for Doctor Faustus.

Shakespeare - Elizabethan theatre’s most famous playwright.

RSC - Royal Shakespeare Company. British theatre company based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, founded 1879.

V. E. Schwab - American fantasy writer known for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Vicious - Story about ExtraOrdinary people. Written by V. E. Schwab.