In this episode Dr. Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are talking about Julie d'Aubigny, a renowned seventeenth century opera singer, duellist, fake nun, bisexual icon and probable arsonist, who grew up in the court of the Sun King but who couldn't stay our of trouble with the law for long, and who inspired Dan's song Mademoiselle & The Nunnery Blaze, which you can hear on Bastille Presents... "&": https://bastille.lnk.to/ampersandstore. How much do we actually know about her life, and how much of it is legend?

They're joined by Kelly Gardiner, author Goddess, a novel based on Julie's life, who talks through how they got inspired to write about her, how much research they did, and how they decided which legends to believe and which to discount.

Dan and Emma would like to apologise to the population of France for their pronunciations in this episode.

You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersand.bastillebastille.com.

Say hello at [email protected].

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Dr. Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Dr. Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.

Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.

Cover design by Chris Barker.

Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.

Recorded at Plosive Studios.

Mixed by Miles Wheway.

Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle. Also with thanks to Dr Laura O’Brien and Dr Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins for help with this episode.

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