Secret Life of Books

Weekly exploration of hidden histories and meanings in classic books AI summary

Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole Visit website › Arts · EN · 165 episodes · latest 2026-11-10

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What it is about

Every book has two stories: the one it tells, and the one it hides.The Secret Life of Books is a fascinating, addictive, often shocking, occasionally hilarious weekly podcast starring Sophie Gee, an English professor at Princeton University, and Jonty Claypole, formerly director of arts at the BBC. Every week these virtuoso critics and close friends take an iconic book and reveal the hidden story behind the story: who made it, their clandestine motives, the undeclared stakes, the scandalous backstory and above all the secret, mysterious meanings of books we thought we knew.-- To join the Secret Life of Books Club visit: www.secretlifeofbooks.org-- Please support us on Patreon to keep the lights on in the SLoB studio: https://patreon.com/SecretLifeofBooks528?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkinsta: https://www.instagram.com/secretlifeofbookspodcast/youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secretlifeofbookspodcast/shorts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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© 2025 Secret Life of Books

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Latest episodes

Classic Australia 4: The Slap by (and with) Christo Tsiolkas

2026-11-10 · 50 min · Episode 188

Plenty of novels entertain and move us, but only a few become cultural landmarks in their own right: capturing the state of a nation at a particular moment in time, and sparking conversations and arguments that continue…
Classic Australia 3: The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

2026-11-03 · 1 hr 18 min · Episode 186

At the 2003 USA National Book Awards, the horror writer Stephen King gave an impassioned speech criticizing the assembled great and good of the literary world for its critical neglect of popular writers.Next up a 72…
Classic Australia 2: The Harp in the South by Ruth Park

2026-10-27 · 1 hr 7 min · Episode 185

Ruth Park’s debut novel, The Harp in the South, was first serialized in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1947, provoking angry letters from outraged readers. The book was destined to become an Australian classic. The story…
From Pemberly With Love. SLOB picks the next James Bond.

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Classic Australia 1: My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

2026-10-20 · 1 hr 11 min · Episode 182

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SLoB & SLoBability: Diana Reid on adapting Austen's masterpiece for the screen

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Small-talk emergency kit: who the heck is Anne Carson?

2026-10-09 · 21 min · Episode 180

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Factory settings: Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South

2026-10-06 · 1 hr 25 min · Episode 179

Elizabeth Gaskell might be the most underrated novelist of the 19th century. North and South was first published by Charles Dickens in Household Words from 1854-55. But Dickens and Gaskell came to blows over his…
Gothic horror in the age of AI: Alma Katsu on her new novel Incarnate

2026-10-02 · 31 min · Episode 178

What do you get when you cross an NSA and CIA analyst with a bestselling horror writer? You get Alma Katsu, who talks to Sophie and Jonty about publishing her new novel Incarnate at the exact moment when the threats and…
Trashing Up Troy: Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida

2026-09-29 · 1 hr 13 min · Episode 177

Last month we left listeners with the tantalizing question: what happened next in literary history after Chaucer wrote Troilus and Criseyde? This was a serious cliffhanger, and it’s unforgivable that instead of…

Episode details from the publisher’s feed. Playback happens at the publisher.

Publisher details

Oldest episode in feed: 05/2024 · over 2 years
Typical length: 1 hr 0 min
Format: Episodic Newest first, episodes stand alone
Keywords: classics, literature, authors, great books, arts, writers, novels

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