‘Mrs Mason looked now through Aunt Irene’s rich windows, sparking like spring water and framing fat pink shrubs that grew with child-like health in the tiny London garden.’

This week, we join Sally navigating the world of Alice Thomas Ellis’ absurdist novel, The 27th Kingdom (1982), exploring the parallel lives of its two central women. Listen for a meditation on building character, society, and our means of placing ourselves in the world around us.

More information on Ellis and her work can be found here.

This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.

Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

For Miss Braithwaite, who gave me eloquence.

‘I need to summon the spirits of place…’

This week, we join Sally in rehearsal for a performance, given last week at Somerville College as part of Oxfordshire Mind’s evening of ‘Connections.’ Listen for an invocation of character, both in fiction and of those figures in our own lives that become part of our stories.

Both Gladys and J.M.W. Turner feature in Sally’s recent novel, The Green Lady (William Collins, 2023).

This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.

Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

‘Enid’s hands are always kept busy caring for other people…’

This week, Sally continues her theme of developing characters from objects by presenting a portrait of Enid Bagot, a young woman used to working with her hands, who will feature in Sally’s forthcoming imagined biography, provisionally titled Mrs Parnell. Listen for a reflection on the routines and rhythms of life and work, interspersed with the moments from Sally’s own life that provide her inspiration.

The image of the cat by Edward Lear that Sally refers to can be viewed here.

The wonderful piano music in the opening section is ‘Tuesday’, by Paul Seba. More on Paul and his work can be found here.

This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen.

Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.