British biographer and monarchist Andrew Lownie exposes the character flaws in two of the most glamorous but morally dubious couples in the history of the Royal family - the Mountbattens and the Windsors.

The Mountbattens - Louis and Edwina - share charisma, ambition and privilege as Viceroy and Vicereine of India in the turbulent period leading up to Partition. Their open marriage  and numerous infidelities test  their bond, but they remain a couple, bound by their social status, privilege and shared sense of purpose. But was there more to their story?

Following the Abdication in 1936, the Windsors - Edward and Wallis - pursue a life that is louche and aimless in Barbados and through Europe, while secretly liaising with the Nazis and positioning themselves to return to the British throne, should Germany win the war.

In both biographies, Lownie uncovers new material and new sources that present compelling evidence for the dark side of public figures who have been protected from scandal by royal courtiers. His quest for the truth comes at considerable personal cost.

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In Joan of Arc : A History, media-savvy medievalist Helen Castor goes back to original sources to strip away the myth from the story of Joan of Arc. What emerges from her forensic approach is a fresh take on the remarkable events that led to an illiterate teenage peasant girl being placed in command of the French Army.

Castor is bold in her interpretation of Joan’s voices and sheds new light on the significance of what she wore in battle, at court and in her final days in jail. The result is a portrait that is vivid and perplexing and will keep  scholars and fans arguing  for eternity.

This episode is a recording of an outdoor event at Adelaide Writers Week.

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Born in the former Czechoslovakia, Tom Stoppard became one of Britain’s most celebrated
playwrights, famous for his wit and intellectual dazzle in plays like Rosencrantz
and Gildenstern Are Dead, Jumpers, Travesties, Arcadia, and more recently
Leopoldstadt. He wears success well, mixing with famous and glamorous friends, marrying
talented women and breaking up with them amicably. As he grows older, his
politics shift, and he becomes interested in his hidden identity.

In 2013 Stoppard invited distinguished biographer Dame Hermione Lee, well-known for her books on Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton, to tackle his story. She goes at it with formidable stamina, delivering a portrait that is warm and engaging, together with in-depth insight into the themes of his plays.

In this candid conversation with Caroline Baum, Hermione Lee explains how she used the
precious resource of his mother’s letters, examined his important friendship with
Vaclav Havel, and drew together his public and private selves.

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When Hazel Rowley died, the Australian biographer was at the peak of her career, having cemented a reputation for writing richly engaging and throughly researched biographies of figures including Christine Stead, black American writer Richard Wright, and power couples Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre, and Eleanor and Franklin D Roosevelt. 

But how did the Adelaide academic achieve her success?  A new anthology of her writing on biography, Life As Art, by her sister Della Rowley, with an introduction by Drusilla Modjeska provides insights into Hazel’s tenacity.

In this episode, Della Rowley shares  her personal memories of her older sister nd talks about the financial aspect of Hazel’s increasing success, while Drusilla Modjeska remembers her discussions with Hazel about the ethical  boundaries of biography.

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What is the secret to Roger Federer’s dominance of tennis?   NYT Sporstwriter and biographer Christopher Clarey has had  unparalleled access to the player over twenty years and seen is development from gifted but temperamental teenager to global elite athlete, as he documents in The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer.

In the course of this conversation Clarey talks about the behind the scenes coaches who have  helped sharpen Federer’s reflexes and strategy, about Federer’s temperament, his closest inner circle, his rivals Nadal and Djokovic,  and reflects on how a written sports biography compares with increasingly popular sports screen documentaries.

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Never before has a thriller writer had a biography written by a literary academic. But Lee Child is a global phenomenon who defies easy categorisation and Australian scholar Heather Martin is not only a fan, but convinced that he has real heft, earning him a spot among some serious heavy hitters.

In this episode, she maps the trajectory of how Lee Child created his hero Jack Reacher in his own image to a seamless degree. She sleuths Child’s unpromising loveless childhood, his lifelong addictions, his desire for revenge of past wrongs, and his shrewd, strategic approach to every aspect of becoming a bestseller.

Produced by David Roach for Two Heads media and Jennifer Macey.

Music composed and performed by Amanda Brown and produced by Lilly Pilli. 

This podcast is made on Dharrawal country.

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Weighing in at nearly a thousand pages, this enthralling biography is the eleventh of American poet Sylvia Plath. But its emphasis is very different, thanks to Heather Clark’s determination to counter the obsession with her death and focus instead on Plath’s blazing talent and vitality. 

With unparalleled access to  archives and never-before published material, Clark reveals a fragile but ambitious personality with original and  mercurial talent, plagued by mental health issues, and struggling with the intensity of her relationship with her mother and her husband Ted Hughes.

Produced by David Roach for Two Heads media and Jennifer Macey.

Music composed and performed by Amanda Brown and produced by Lilly Pilli.

This podcast is made on Dharrawal country.

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At the height of the Cold War, Ethel Rosenberg  was the first woman in America to be electrocuted for a crime other than murder, accused of being a Soviet spy, together with her husband Julius. She was thirty seven and the mother of two small boys. 

In her  meticulous biography, British biographer Anne Sebba  separates out Ethel’s story from her husband’s and examines her  difficult family history to paint a nuanced and often very moving portrait of a woman with a strong sense of honour and a steely courage. 

She also tells the story of a previous  quest which yielded every biographer’s dream - a cache of unpublished material whose contents were explosive.

Produced by David Roach for Two Heads Media and Jennifer Macey

Music composed and performed by Amanda Brown and produced by Lilly Pilli 

This podcast is made on Dharrawal country.

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Life Sentences is back for Season 2. The best biographers in the business tell Caroline Baum about getting access to previously closed archives and co-operation from some of the world’s most famous subjects. 

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Long before self help books became a multi-million dollar industry when anxiety was not  a subject of public conversation,  Dr Claire Weekes, an intrepid Australian scientist found a way to cure anxiety and teach sufferers how to manage their panic attacks. Her books became international best-sellers, but her name became forgotten with time.  Judith Hoare’s biography tells her remarkable story.

Producers: Jennifer Macey and David Roach

Life Sentences is a Two Heads Media production

Music:Blue Dot Sessions

www. carolinebaum.com.au

All the books in this series are available from good bookshops and online.

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