Join me this week as I discuss books, films, television and theatre.

Join me this week as I enjoy being snowed in on the Orkney Islands, watching the flakes fall as I'm tucked into my gable room with my books. Listen as I discuss British folktale and take a deep dive into my most read author of 2025.

This week I'll be considering The Land of Mist and Magic by Philip Parker and taking a deep dive on fantasy author V. E. Schwab. We'll discuss The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, A Darker Shade of Magic, This Savage Song and Vicious.

References made

Cardews - Oxford based tea and coffee retailers. Found in the Covered Market.

Daunt Books - British independent bookshop chain.

Chloé Hayden - Autistic Australian YouTuber, actor and activist.

Patience - British–Belgian detective drama based in York.

Geek Girl - Book series by Holly Smale and Netflix series about a quirky young girl tackling the modelling industry.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder - 2019 novel by Holly Jackson and Netflix series about a cold case that a school girl decides to crack.

Stonehenge - Britain’s most famous stone circle, found on Salisbury Plain, alongside a range of other significant Neolithic sites.

Marginalia - Doodles found in the margins of manuscripts. Typically strange animals and knights on snails.

Lady Godiva - 11th century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman best known for riding naked through the streets of Coventry.

Robin Hood - Outlaw hero best known for stealing from the rich to feed the poor. Depicted in Disney as a fox.

Beowulf - Anglo-Saxon tale of a hero’s battle against supernatural monsters in a historic Germanic landscape.

Hagiography - a saint’s life or biography of a saint, popular during the medieval period.

Selkie - Seal people, who shed their skins to become humans on land.

Sarah J Maas - American fantasy author best known for A Court of Thorns and Roses series and Throne of Glass series.

Cassandra Clare - American fantasy author best known for The Mortal Instruments and the invention of Shadowhunters.

J. R. R. Tolkien - Oxford professor and creator of Middle Earth.

C. S. Lewis - Oxford academic and creator of Narnia.

Philip Pullman - British author most famous for His Dark Materials, a series set in a world where souls manifest on the outside of people’s bodies.

* Addie LaRue was actually published in 2020 *

Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde’s most notorious character, who sold his soul to a painting for eternal youth. Titular character of The Picture of Dorian Grey.

Blackwell’s Bookshop - Oxford’s most famous bookshop, now a chain and found in most academic cities.

Byronic hero - Proud and brooding romantic heroes, inspired by Lord Byron. Think Rochester in Jane Eyre.

The Name of the Wind - Fantasy novel by American author Patrick Rothfuss. First in the incomplete Kingkiller trilogy.

Atonement - Award winning novel by Ian McEwan, published in 2001, set during the interwar period and Second World War.

Voldemort - Nose-less villain of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Vecna - Nose-less villain of Netflix/Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things TV series.

DC - Comic book publishers and film producers, known for Superman and Batman stories.

Metropolis - Fictional American city in the DC universe, home to Superman.

Gotham - Corrupt fictional American city where crime bosses rule and Batman attempts to battle them.

J. K. Rowling - Author of Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike novels.

Leigh Bardugo - American fantasy author best known for the Six of Crows duology.

Bookworm - Australian film starring Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher about a bookworm child.

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Join me this week as I curl up with tea from my Bird and Blend advent calendar, enjoying the festive season as I wrap up my Goodreads Reading Challenge for the year. Listen as I discuss the art of storytelling, adventure into Hell, and contemplate opportunities for women in Victorian London.

This week I'll be considering The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a fast paced bestseller based in a retirement village. Discovering a new perspective on sin as I explore Hell with Dante in Inferno. And rereading some old favourites with Philip Pullman; The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North. Leaving the literary world behind, we will also be discussing THAT ending to the new Stranger Things episodes and a unique take on Shakespeare with Liz Duffy Adams' Born With Teeth.

References Made

Bird and Blend - Tea company known for its creative flavours.

Land of Mist and Magic (Philip Parker) - Book of British myths and folklore published by the British Library.

Hatchards - Piccadilly based bookshop founded in 1797. Oldest bookshop in the UK.

Fortnum and Mason - Piccadilly based department store founded in 1707. Tourist trap.

St David - Patron saint of Wales, often connected with leeks.

Oxford and Cambridge Club - Members club on Pall Mall founded in 1821 for students and graduates of Oxford or Cambridge.

World of Books - British online second hand book retailer.

Hallmarked Man (Robert Galbraith) - Latest in crime series about detectives Strike and Ellacott set in 2010s London. Written by J. K. Rowling.

Strange Houses - Japanese mystery bestseller written by YouTuber Uketsu.

Virgil - Augustinian Latin poet most famous for The Aeneid.

The Odyssey - Ancient Greek epic poem by Homer about the ten year journey of Odysseus home to Ithica after the Trojan War.

The Aeneid - Latin epic written by Virgil in the style of Homer about proto-Roman hero Aeneas.

George R R Martin - American fantasy author most famous for The Game of Thrones.

The Book of Dust - Fantasy series by Philip Pullman, set before and after His Dark Materials.

His Dark Materials - Trilogy by Philip Pullman set in a world where souls are on the outside of people’s bodies.

East India Company - British joint-stock company, running between 1600–1858, connected with colonialism.

Bram Stoker - Gothic author most famous for Dracula.

Sally Lockhart series - BBC One series airing in 2006 and 2007.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Third Harry Potter book, written by J. K. Rowling.

Testament of Youth - Memoir written by Vera Brittain about her time at Oxford and as a nurse in the First World War.

Dungeons and Dragons - Fantasy Tabletop Role Play Game first published in 1974.

Weta Workshop and Weta Digital - New Zealand based creative company working with film, television and video game companies.

The Lord of the Rings - Written by J. R. R. Tolkien. Adapted for film by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, directed by Peter Jackson.

Avatar - James Cameron film about brutality towards indigenous communities. Set on another planet.

The Adventures of Tintin - 2011 film based on the Tintin comic series by Hergé.

Panto - British Christmas tradition. Comedic play typically starring a man in drag.

Love Actually - British classic Christmas movie written and directed by Richard Curtis.

Donut Drive - Finella Waddilove’s latest play. A two-hander set in Essex.

Snatch - Early movie by British director Guy Ritchie. Starring Brad Pitt as a bare knuckle boxer.

Guy Ritchie - British crime film director and screenwriter.

Henry VI - One of Shakespeare’s Histories. Supposedly co-written.

Marlowe - Elizabethan playwright known for Doctor Faustus.

Shakespeare - Elizabethan theatre’s most famous playwright.

RSC - Royal Shakespeare Company. British theatre company based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, founded 1879.

V. E. Schwab - American fantasy writer known for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Vicious - Story about ExtraOrdinary people. Written by V. E. Schwab.