Conversations with authors about how they build a world we want to escape into. A great story to read before bed, twice a month.
The latest episode
Priya Parmar on Katharine Hepburn, before she was Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn won more Oscars than any actor in history, but her best role was the one she wrote for herself. Priya Parmar's The Original covers eighteen years of her life, from 13 to 32. Not the icon in the polo neck. The young woman before all that, with the failures, the family and the loss she never quite got over.
Priya and I talk about the decade of research behind the book, the Howard Hughes letters, why Cary Grant ended up with a much bigger part than planned, and how the studios manufactured star personas before the Production Code came in. She also told me she set out to write Hepburn in first person. That's not what came out.
Guests include
Ruth Reichl · John Lanchester · Ayelet Waldman · Beatriz Williams · Robert Dugoni · Alison Espach · Yael van der Wouden · Fiona Davis · Rufi Thorpe · Allegra Goodman · Annabel Monaghan · Allison Pataki · Lauren Willig · Clare Pooley · Priya Parmar
New York Times bestsellers, a Women's Prize winner and Read with Jenna picks, plus dozens more of the most talked-about authors around.
Every conversation
I choose books that are beautifully written, tell a compelling story and stay with you. Here's every one so far, newest first.
Nothing on the shelf matches that yet. Try another author or book.
Fifty minutes with Ayelet Waldman
Every conversation goes somewhere I didn't expect. With Ayelet and A Perfect Hand, her Victorian marriage plot that's been called Jane Austen meets Nora Ephron, we went from her daughter's advice to toxic Victorian cosmetics to the scholars she hired to catch every anachronism.
- Finding the narrator's voice
- The daughter who inspired the premise
- Chasing Victorian language
- What life was really like below stairs
- Calipers and vanity science
- The experts who caught the anachronisms
- The three meanings of the title
- Escapism with a feminist conscience
Behind the Stories
The podcast is free and always will be. Behind the Stories is for readers and writers who want a little more.
After each conversation I write up what stayed with me: the craft tips, the surprises, the moments that didn't fit in the episode. It's also how you can help shape the show and support it as it grows.
What subscribers get
Writing insights from every episode, straight to your inbox
Book recommendations from my guests
Early word on who's coming up next
Send in questions before I record
Suggest the authors and books I should pick next
A subscriber chat with fellow readers
The books I can't stop recommending
My rolling top ten. Every one of these authors has been on the show, so you can hear the conversation and then buy the book.
Not too high brow, not too low brow. Just right.
Hello, I'm Elena
I was born curious. Harriet the Spy was my idol and Nosey Bowes was my nickname, so it probably makes sense that I ended up asking people questions for a living.
I grew up in San Francisco, moved to New York in the eighties and then spent thirty years in London, where I raised three children who are more Blighty than Yankee. These days I'm back in Manhattan, but London is still my favourite city in the world and I'm over there as often as I can be.
I've written about design, culture and the business of getting older for The New York Times, British House & Garden, Architectural Digest, Town & Country and The Ethel. The podcast is where I get to do what I love most: read a great book, then ask the person who wrote it how on earth they did it.
More about meSee my commissions
MA in Journalism, Columbia University. MA with Distinction in Creative Writing, Kingston University.
A few things you might want to know about me
- I have my best thoughts on aeroplanes.
- I listen to books while I walk as much as I read them sitting down.
- Words I can't stand: pivot, circle back, low hanging fruit.
- I love linen sheets. So does our pug.
- Our Manhattan living room used to be a squash court.
- I wore dusty rose to my second wedding.
Keep reading
The journal
Personal essays on marriage second time around, grandchildren, travel and ageing honestly.
Read the journalMy reading list
My rolling top ten, and every book I've loved enough to recommend.
Browse the listCommissions
Essays and features for The New York Times, House & Garden, Architectural Digest and more.
See my commissionsProse Playground
A writing community for people who want to practise, share and get better.
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