Hot and Bothered

This week we're returning to Chapter 27 of Jane Eyre, this time zooming in on Jane and Rochester. Vanessa and Lauren discuss Jane's fears about becoming a mistress and compare it with the limitations of a Victorian marriage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With so much to cover in Chapter 27, we’ve decided to break it up into two episode. This week, Vanessa and Lauren focus in on Bertha and grapple with the racist and imperialist themes of Jane Eyre.  Many thanks this week to Dr. Rab Houston for consulting with us about the history of asylums in Victorian England. Check out his project Promoting Mental Health Through the Lessons of History . Ho...

Vanessa Lauren finally journey up to the third floor of Thornfield Hall in Chapters 25 and 26 of Jane Eyre. They dissect the character of Bertha Rochester and try to parse out Charlotte Bronte’s voice from Jane Eyre’s as the narrator.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa and Lauren meet under the chestnut tree at Thornfield in Chapters 23 and 24 of Jane Eyre. They discuss Rochester's proposal (!) and continue to examine the many power differentials in this budding relationship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa and Lauren return to Gateshead in Chapters 21 and 22 of Jane Eyre. Mrs. Reed is dying, and Jane has come to sit by her bedside. But it's not a 'typical' death bed exchange – there's no great moment of redemption for Mrs. Reed, she dies a villain. Vanessa and Lauren explore what this dynamic reveals about Jane's growth over the course of the novel, and what it means about Jane's sense of ho...

Vanessa and Lauren and start to get closer to the secrets at Thornfield Hall in Chapters 19 and 20 of Jane Eyre. After we learned about a mysterious gypsy in our last episode, we finally have a chance to meet her and hear what she has to say about our dear Jane. Vanessa and Lauren discuss the trope of the 'gypsy' in Victorian literature, the ways in which it's harmful to Romani people, and how it'...

Vanessa and Lauren and settling in with the new party at Thornfield in Chapters 16 through 18 of Jane Eyre. After last week’s big bed burning scene, Mr. Rochester up and leaves Thornfield. But when we returns, he’s got a whole new cast of characters in tow. Our biggest introduction is to Miss Blanche Ingram, and Vanessa and Lauren debate whether she’s redeemable.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

Vanessa and Lauren set the bed on fire in chapters 14 and 15 of Jane Eyre. They take a close look at the character of Celine Varens and continue their debate on whether Rochester is a sexy hero or a manipulative boss (or both). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa and Lauren get cozy with Jane and Rochester in chapter 13 of Jane Eyre. The two lovebirds have their first real conversation in this chapter and it is steamy... well at least to them it is. Vanessa and Lauren aren't as sure that Rochester's brand of flirtation is the healthiest for our dear heroine. Special thanks this week to Dr. Rachel Teukolsky, who was interviewed twice for this episod...

Vanessa and Lauren have arrived at Thornfield Hall in chapters 11 and 12 of Jane Eyre. And who do they find on the road outside of Thornfield? Why Mr. Rochester himself, the 'hero' of our romance! This week they analyze Jane's restlessness in her new home, The Gothic as it appears in these chapters, and why women are attracted to brooding bad boys like Rochester. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

If for some reason you haven't heard (have you been living under a rock?), Vanessa wrote a book all about Jane Eyre! It's the inspiration for this podcast. After reading Chapter 10 last week, we realized there were some strong resonances between our conversation and the chapter of Vanessa's book on the theme of Destiny. We thought we'd take a week to share it with you and dig even deeper into chap...

Vanessa and Lauren wrap-up their time at Lowood School in chapters 9 and 10 of Jane Eyre. They discuss Jane's peculiar perspective on dying in chapter nine ("what a drag to die" as Lauren puts it), the special tenor of Helen's death by tuberculous, and the power of female friendship. Many thanks to Phoebe Judge for lending her voice to Helen this week. Phoebe read the entirety of Jane Eyre aloud o...

Vanessa and Lauren settle into the Lowood School in chapters 5 through 8 of Jane Eyre. They grapple with the role of Christianity in this book, paying special attention to how Charlotte Bronte's ideas are expressed through the character of Helen Burns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa and Lauren slow down again to look closely at just one chapter - chapter four of Jane Eyre. They discuss Mr. Brocklehurst and his Christianity, Jane’s powerful use of her own voice, and what Gateshead Hall represents in the context of the larger book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa and Lauren tackle chapters two and three of Jane Eyre, spending more time at Gateshead Hall. They discuss the famous 'red room' scene, explore Victorian sensibilities about sex and womanhood, and grapple with Jane's comparison to a 'rebel slave.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa and Lauren dive into Jane Eyre, starting with a close look at Chapter 1. They discuss the first sentence of the book, Jane’s abuse at Gateshead, and what it means to be a ‘precocious girl.’  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you know anything about Vanessa Zoltan, you know that Jane Eyre is her favorite book. In fact, she just wrote her own book about it: Praying with Jane Eyre . But after spending so much time lovingly pouring over this text, it's time to take a step back.  Each week of On Eyre, Vanessa and Lauren Sandler will take a critical look at the text and ask themselves ‘does this old book still have...

Next week, we're launching our new series On Eyre . But before we jump into 19th century England, we wanted to spend some time introducing you to our new co-host Lauren Sandler. Lauren's recent book This is All I Got: A New Mother's Search for Home is recently out in paperback. We talked to her about the process of writing her book and the similarities she see's between Jane Eyre and the continued...

This week we're excited to share a conversation with Nichole Perkins about Romance Thrillers, the pleasure of competency, and her podcast This is Good For You . Stick around after our conversation to hear an episode of This is Good For You all about baking bread. And if you like the show, be sure to subscribe wherever you find your podcasts! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

We're between seasons of Hot and Bothered, so to keep you company we're bringing you interviews with our favorite writers and thinkers. This week, we're bringing you the wonderful writer and bookstore owner Emma Straub. Together we talk about how women's books are marketed, her love of writing hopeful endings, and why it's important to surround yourself with young people. Her book, All Adults Here...

We're following our interview with Julie Anne Long last week with someone else who Vanessa is obsessed with: Justine Eyre, the woman who reads Julie Anne Long's books. Justine Eyre is a classically trained, multilingual actress who has narrated well over 400 audiobooks and received an Audie Award and multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards. We talked to her about her process of preparing to record a b...

We're between seasons of Hot and Bothered, but that doesn't mean we've stopped reading Romance novels. On the contrary, recently Vanessa has been binge reading The Pennyroyal Green Series by Julie Anne Long. And because Romance novelist are the nicest kind of people, we were lucky enough to get Julie on the phone. We asked her all of our questions about her books, how she got started writing, and...

Vanessa and Julia have read all of Breaking Dawn and have some thoughts on imprinting, vampire sex, and best practices for vampire childbirth. This is the final episode of Twilight in Quarantine ya'll! Thank you so much for being on this journey with us for the past year. We'll be back in June with On Eyre! --- If $2/month doesn’t feel like a vampire sucking your blood, we’d love it if you could s...

Fact 1: Vanessa Zoltan has been the host of this romance novel themed podcast for almost two years now. Fact 2: Vanessa Zoltan is a Jane Eyre evangelist. She’s literally written  the book on Jane Eyre . Fact 3: Vanessa has somehow never talked about Jane Eyre on this podcast??? Finally, we’ve come to our senses and one of life’s biggest contradictions is getting sorted. Coming June 1st 2021,...

Vanessa and Julia have officially finished Eclipse! Jacob wants to be a wolf full-time and we love that for him. Go Jacob, run like the wind and never come back. Seriously. Please don't come back. --- If $2/month doesn’t feel like a vampire sucking your blood, we’d love it if you could support us on Patreon. Your support will help us make our new Jane Eyre podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...