Tessa Hadley (Free Love, Late in the Day) joins us for a discussion of The Death of the Heart (1938), the sixth novel by Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen; as you'll hear, Tessa has been reading and rereading Bowen's work since she discovered it in her local library when she was 12 years old. We go deep into the glorious idiosyncrasies (and idiosyncratic glories) of Bowen's style and consider why her reputation has waxed and waned in the years since her death in 1973.

Also in this episode, John celebrates his recent trip to New Orleans with a reading of Nine Lives (Random House US), Dan Baum's book about the city; and Andy navigates his way round Géricault's painting ‘The Wreck of the Medusa’ using Tom de Freston's new book Wreck (Granta) as his compass.

Books mentioned:

Elizabeth Bowen - The Death of the Heart; The Last September; The House in Paris; Eva Trout; The Selected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen (edited by Tessa Hadley); Collected Stories (introduction by Angus Wilson); The Mulberry Tree (edited by Hermione Lee)
Tessa Hadley - Free Love; Late in the Day
George Ewart Evans - Where Beards Wag All; Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay
Robert Ashton - Where are the Fellows Who Cut the Hay?
Tom de Freston - Wreck: Géricault’s Raft & the Art of Being Lost at Sea
Dan Baum - Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death & Life in New Orleans
Hugh Walpole - Rogue Herries
Ivy Compton Burnett - More Women than Men
Henry Green - Living, Loving , Party Going

Other links:

Elizabeth Bowen - Truth and Fiction, BBC 1956
Elizabeth Bowen interview, 1959
The Death of the Heart, 1987 film adaptation
The Elizabeth Bowen Society
Channel 4 documentary on three Anglo-Irish sisters, 1986
Tessa Hadley on re-reading Elizabeth Bown, LRB (9 Feb, 2020)