Gretel Ponders her Past; Pepys is Up Betimes; A Brace of Saints; and Chapter 8 of Villette

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Hullo, hullo, how are you? We are making good progress with Villette.  If you haven’t read it before you will find, perhaps, that it creeps up on your soul and tiptoes into your mind: the images in your head of the streets, the Pensionnat, Madame Beck, and Lucy Snowe.  Be patient and let the book come to you.  

One quote from the chapter ‘Villette’ struck a chord with me and I thought I would share it with you here:  ‘These feelings, however, were well kept in check by the secret but ceaseless consciousness of anxiety laying in wait on enjoyment, like a tiger crouched in a jungle.  The breathing of that beast of prey was in my ear always; his fierce heart panted close to mine; he never stirred in his lair but I felt him: I knew he waited only for sun-down to bound ravenous from his ambush’.  Brontë’s beautiful words describing how I feel about evenings, and have felt, all my life.  

Another quote that puts into beautiful words how I’ve felt about life often is from today’s chapter:

‘…but it seemed to me a great thing to be without heavy anxiety, and relieved from intimate trial; the negation of severe suffering was the nearest approach to happiness I expected to know.’

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Gretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  

Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.

Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.

Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review and possibly 5 stars (for effort as I realise it’s not deserved for achievement)🥴

Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Actor Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela Tilby; Author Bijan Omrani; Journalist and Historian Sir Simon Jenkins; Dorset garden hedgehog family, the Venerable Bede and other guests.  

Future guests (all being well) are Tom Holland, John Simpson, Eleanor Parker, Philippa Langley and Katie Channon.  

Unpolished and unscripted but no ads and no requests for anything but your company.  Trying to make the world a gentler place with literature, history and nature.  Please don’t expect to find a...