Strictly Books: Trollope, Brontë, Pepys and The Chronicles

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Good afternoon and happy Tuesday.  We meet the curious Stanhopes in Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers: ‘Their conduct to each other was the same as to the world; they bore and forebore’.  We progress (not far) with Pepys (won’t it be good to get to 1664?).  We progress too with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles but fall foul of the fact we are reading a version that combined them so that dates and events repeat; in this example the Lady of the Mercians died on two different dates.  We chat about ‘beating the bounds’.  Does your village or town beat the bounds?  If not, when did it stop?  Let me know and I’ll read your reply out on a future episode.  Finally we read our second chapter of Villette.  It will take a few chapters to settle into it. Don’t give up on it - or me! 

Finally, if you think what I do here is ok, I would love for you to forward the episode or podcast to a few people who might like it.  I suppose people who have open minds about how podcasts should be presented and open minds too about their interests.  I would be hugely grateful. 

Very finally, thank you, because if no one listened, or if the listeners reduced too much, I would of course have to stop this mad enterprise.  My children would then breathe a sigh of relief and hope I get a real job that could pay for better holidays than Cornwall 😁 Lots of love and thank you xx 🌳🎈🦔

PS Hedgehog comes every night, so I will try to bring her/him back into the episodes.  Life is so puppy-dominated at the mo, but praying it’ll get easier soon.  

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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...