Lost Ladies of Lit

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim discuss Louise Fitzhugh and her groundbreaking children’s book Harriet the Spy with Fitzhugh biographer Leslie Brody and Brody’s editor Laura Mazer . Though many people know of Harriet the Spy , they typically don't know much about Fitzhugh—until now. Brody’s new book on Fitzhugh, Sometimes You Have to Lie (Seal Press) , received rave revie...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s mini episode, Amy and Kim tell us how they really feel about widely-loved and critically-acclaimed books such as My Brilliant Friend ; Romola ; The Lord of the Rings ; Infinite Jest ;  Dear God, It’s Me Margaret; and many more. It’s all in good fun! They’ll also share their “gateway” novels and consider whether or not their most beloved childhood classics stand the...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim discuss Stella Gibbons’ Nightingale Wood , a sophisticated and charmingly unorthodox 1930s-era Cinderella story chockablock with wry humor and romance, and even some saucy sexcapades! Learn more about Gibbons, who was so loved by critics that one even, infuriatingly, suggested “Stella Gibbons” was probably a pen name used by the male writer Evel...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s mini episode, Kim and Amy share secrets of what makes their writing partnership work. Then, join them as they turn to famous women writers such as Nancy Mitford, Isabelle Allende, Anais Nin, and more for advice on setting and accomplishing your goals and staying inspired as we, thankfully, head into a new year. Plus find out which book and author will be featured in...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim have a conversation about Sui Sin Far and her wonderful short story collection, Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912), with journalist and author Victoria Namkung, who has her Master’s Degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. Sui Sin Far, the pen name of Edith Maude Eaton, was a journalist and writer of Chinese and British descent who moved to the U.S...

Send us Fan Mail In their latest mini episode, Amy and Kim get into the holiday spirit while discussing Kate Douglas Wiggin’s The Birds’ Christmas Carol , published in 1888. Find out how Wiggin (who also wrote Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm ) spent the book’s profits as well as what happened when, as a child of 11, she accidentally bumped into another Christmas Carol author, the inimitable Charles Dic...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim discuss the life and work of controversial child poet Nathalia Crane, whose poetry began receiving critical attention in 1924, when she was only 9 years old. The Janitor’s Boy and Other Poems was published when she was just 11. Was she the real thing or a brilliant hoax? Hear what Dorothy Parker and other luminaries had to say about Nathalia’s p...

Send us Fan Mail In this mini episode, join Amy and Kim on a virtual visit to Michigan’s Mackinac Island, one of the settings from Episode 11’s novel, Anne by Constance Fenimore Woolson. Learn about the island’s secret shrine dedicated to the novel’s heroine, and find out if Amy and Kim agree on whether or not the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time , which is also set on the island, actually stands the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Kim and Amy have a conversation about Constance Fenimore Woolson’s novel Anne (1880) with professor and author Anne Boyd Rioux, whose biography of Woolson was named one of 2016’s ten best books of the year by The Chicago Tribune .  Woolson, a close friend of Henry James, is remembered as a salacious footnote in his story, yet upon its publication, her novel Anne s...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s mini episode, Amy and Kim discuss the 15-year feud between writers Willa Cather and Episode 9’s featured author, Dorothy Canfield Fisher.  Get the fascinating backstory on their quarrel and decide whether you’re Team Cather or Team Canfield Fisher. Amy and Kim also talk about their comfort levels with sharing personal details in their writing and reveal the next boo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Amy and Kim discuss Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s The Home-Maker , one of the ten bestselling novels in the U.S. in 1924. Although not exactly a household name now, Canfield Fisher was right up there with Edith Wharton in her day. While The Home-Maker ’s deep dive into child-rearing, women in the workplace, and gender roles was certainly eyebrow-raising at the time, A...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s mini episode, “Gossip & Heartbreak in the Letters of Emily Eden,” Amy and Kim discuss the letters of Lost Lady Episode 7 author, Emily Eden. The 19th century novelist traveled to India and moved in the upper echelons of England’s social sphere, which allowed her to gossip with knowledge about such notables as Lord Byron. Amy and Kim also share their thoughts on...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode, Amy and Kim discuss Emily Eden (1797-1869) and two of her novels, The Semi-Attached Couple and The Semi-Detached House . A Jane Austen fan herself, Eden’s two novels are about what happens after the “happily ever after” in an Austen novel -- In fact, some critics have called her the 19th century’s answer to Austen. Find out if she lives up to that claim, an...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s mini episode, “If Books Could Talk,” Amy and Kim take a look at some of the current and upcoming book-related movies and TV shows for your streaming pleasure. They also reveal their favorite Dickens’ adaptations as well as the next author and book to be featured on the podcast.  Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to o...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Amy and Kim discuss Simone Schwarz-Bart’s masterpiece of Caribbean literature, The Bridge of Beyond . Translated from the French by Barbara Bray, the award-winning novel tells the story of three generations of Guadeloupean women whose lives are intertwined with the history of their people and the island where they make their home. Join Amy and Kim as they unpack s...

Send us Fan Mail In this week’s mini episode, Amy and Kim unpack “what’s in a name?” -- a literary name, that is -- as they discuss what makes for a memorable character name and share their favorite names from literature. Amy also shares the story of her short-lived pandemic hobby (can you guess what it is?). Plus, Amy and Kim will announce the next author and book they’ll feature on Lost Ladies o...

Send us Fan Mail Amy and Kim take a closer look at  E.M. Delafield’s charming Diary of a Provincial Lady , a fictional (yet largely autobiographical) journal of an upper-middle class woman living in Devon, England. The diary was first serialized in the progressive political and literary review magazine Time and Tide before becoming a bestseller in the U.K. and the U.S. in the early 1930s. Amy and...

Send us Fan Mail In their first Lost Ladies of Lit “mini” episode, Amy and Kim make a virtual visit to one of their favorite historically literary hotspots, Concord, Massachusetts. They also discuss what they’re reading right now and why they decided to start a podcast about “lost” literature by women. Plus, Amy and Kim will announce the next author and book they’ll feature on Lost Ladies of Lit ....

Send us Fan Mail Lost Ladies of Lit launches with a conversation on Mariana , the first novel by Monica Dickens (May 10, 1915 – December 25, 1992), the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. First published in 1940, and gorgeously reprinted by our favorite UK publisher Persephone Books, Mariana is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel of the “hot water bottle genre” set in the 1930s. In add...

Send us Fan Mail A quick preview of Lost Ladies of Lit, a book podcast hosted by writing partners Amy Helmes and Kim Askew. Guests include biographers, journalists, authors, and cultural historians discussing lost classics by women writers. Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit .  Emai...