Historical Frictions

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

In this episode, we are looking at historical examples of the historical fiction genre. Hilary read Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (1820), Tess read Castle Rackrent (1800) by Maria Edgeworth, and Lachlan read Hope Leslie (1827) by Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Join us as we discuss the foundations of the historical fiction genre, these diverse authors, and their very wild backgrounds and plotlines. 

As we mentioned at the end of the episode, we will be taking a hiatus from this episode onwards. We hope to be back after mid-year to talk more historical fictions with you all. Thank you for the support and until next time, happy reading!  

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Thank you all for your support this year, we were so grateful to every listener as we launched and grew this project. We have exciting plans for next year and hope to see you all there. We wish everyone a happy and safe holidays.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

We are back for 2021 with a chat about all that we've watched and read since December 2020 and a little update about what to expect on our podcast this year. Look out for the first episode of our new format in your feeds on the last Wednesday of March! 

Books: 

The Secrets We Kept, Lara Prescott 

Islands of Mercy, Rose Tremain 

The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah

The Women's Pages, Victoria Purman 

Gulliver's Wife, Lauren Chater 

The Hate Race, Maxine Breneba Clarke 

TV and Film: 

Bridgerton, Netflix 

Dickinson, Apple TV+

The Dig, Netflix

The Good Lord Bird, Showtime (and Stan), also discussed in Ep. 12

Ammonite, Francis Lee

It's A Sin, Channel 4 (and Stan) 

Larry Horricks/Netflix © 2020

Louise D'Arcens, The Dig’s romanticisation of an Anglo-Saxon past reveals it is a film for post-Brexit UK, Conversation article here

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

In this episode, we have all read the same book (suggested by Tess): The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. It was an incredibly moving book set in the town of Vardø, Norway, in the early 17th century. The event that starts it all, a freak storm in 1617, occurred on Christmas Eve, thus our (tenuous) Christmas tie in! We were all fascinated by different aspects of this history and have different tidbits to share, as well as discussing the story, characters and plot. We were very happy with this choice for our last read of the year, and have plenty to say! 

Content warning:  We do briefly discuss the depiction of a miscarriage and there are some other heavy topics in the book itself, including the persecution of the indigenous population and trauma of witchcraft trials more broadly, and (marital) sexual abuse, so if you are going to read the book yourself we suggest you have a quick look first to be safe if these seem they might be triggering for you.

Recommended extra reading:

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Thank you all for your support this year, we were so grateful to every listener as we launched and grew this project. We have exciting plans for next year and hope to see you all there. We wish everyone a happy and safe holidays.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

This week Hilary read the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic in the novel The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. As you will hear, this book does a lot of things, through the perspective of its protagonist Nurse Julie Power. Set in a Dublin Hospital, on a Lying in Ward for mothers with influenza, the book contains many similarities to our current COVID-19 world. 

Trigger warning: We mention pregnancy/childbirth trauma, including a stillbirth. It is not the focus of the episode but is discussed. (Note there are further, similar, trigger warnings if you choose to read the book itself!) There is also a discussion about LBGTI+ representation in media.

Recommended Reading:  

Ida Milne, Stacking the Coffins: Influenza, War and Revolution in Ireland, 1918-19 (2018)

Susan K. Kent, The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919: A Brief History with Documents (2012)

Elizabeth Hile, "LIKE BRAVE SOLDIERS:” NURSING AND THE SPANISH INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC OF 1918 IN THE UNITED STATES (Dissertation, avaliable here) 

Catriona Foley, "The Last Irish Plague: The Great Flu Epidemic in Ireland 1918—19"  Irish Academic Press (2011)

Sarah Moss review for The Guardian here

Australian Story, Spanish flu vs COVID-19: An Australian Perspective of a Pandemic (aired Mon 30th Nov) available here

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

This week we have a very special guest, Dr Stephanie Russo. Stephanie is Senior Lecturer in the English Department at Macquarie University (and Hilary's supervisor), who researches all things historical fiction and, in particular, the representation of royal queens. Tess and Hilary sit down with Stephanie for a chat about everyone's favourite historical royal Anne Boleyn as Stephanie's latest book, The Afterlife of Anne Boleyn: Representations of Anne Boleyn in Fiction and on the Screen, was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan. We also chat about the most recent TV adaptation covering Henry VIII's queens, The Spanish Princess, which shows us the life of Katherine of Aragon, before Anne Boleyn came along and interrupted everything. 

You can buy Stephanie's Book here 

Find Steph on Twitter here

Her recommendations in the podcast also include: 

Jean Plaidy, Murder Most Royal (1949) 

Hannah Chaplin, The Dead Queens Club (2019) 

Maggie O'Farrell, Hamlet (2020) - Hilary plans to do this in a future episode! 

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

In this episode, we have Lachlan's first book: The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride, recently adapted for TV starring Ethan Hawke. We talk all things about the novel, Lachlan tells us the interesting history behind Kansas before the Civil War, and listen as we all get Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn confused (sorry American listeners). 

Lachlan's recommended sources: 

William Nash's Conversation article here.

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

This week we are talking about a childhood fav movie for Tess and Hilary, and Lachlan's first time experiencing Hocus Pocus! Included in this episode is a short and off the cuff discussion by Tess about the history of Halloween, from its possible pagan roots through to its modern interpretations. Plus a little chat about all things Salem and the Sanderson Sisters! This is our last spooky episode (until next October), and we will be releasing out reading list tomorrow. Happy Halloween! 

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast, where we delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

This week we are joined by recently graduated Dr. Brydie Kosmina, who comes to us with expert knowledge in the depiction of witches in popular culture. 

The second of our spooky historical reads is The Witches of BlackBrook, by Trish Thawer, read by both Tess and Brydie. 

Stay tuned for more spooky chats Hocus Pocus in time for Halloween!

We have a few little technical issues with the one, but we did our best! 

Recommendations from Tess: 

Purkiss, Diane. 'Managing Our Darkest Hatreds And Fears: Witchcraft From The Middle Ages To Brett Kavanaugh' here

Derosa, Robin. Making of Salem: The Witch Trials in History, Fiction and Tourism. 

Recommendations from Brydie: 

Adams, Gretchen A.  The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in 19th C America (2010)

Sollee, Kristen J. Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive (2017) 

Purkiss, Diane. The Witch in History: Early Modern and Late Twentieth-Century Representations (1996) 

Starkey, Marion. The Devil in Massachusetts (1949)

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast.

We are back, delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan.

This week we have the first of our spooky historical reads, The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox, read by Hilary. 

Stay tuned for more spooky chats about Salem and Witches in the following episodes, with Tess' book (and special guest) and then Hocus Pocus in time for Halloween! 

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.

Welcome to Historical Frictions, a historical fiction podcast.

We are back, delving into the nitty-gritty of history, fiction, and everything in between, hosted by Hilary, Tess, and Lachlan. 

This week, we are discussing People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, and read by Tess. 

Recommended Sources: 

Geraldine Brooks, 'The Book of Exodus: A Double Rescue in Wartime Sarajevo' here

'I Have This Paper which I Know Comes from Israel': Interview with Davor Bakovic, Son of Yugoslav Partisan and Second-Generation Link to Muslim Righteous Among the Nations here

DIE SARAJEVO HAGGADA

Boznie Hercegovine, Sarajevo Haggadah page here 

Shalom Sabar, The Sarajevo Haggadah: History and Art (2018) - this one is slightly harder to get a hold of, as it's a scholarly edition. 

If you have any feedback, email us at [email protected]

And as always, find us by searching on all the socials.

Tess, Lachlan, and Hilary would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land they live and work: Kaurna Country (Adelaide Plains) and the Gadigal of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and pay our respects to the Elders both past and present.