Research – A Bookish Home Podcast

Ep. 141 Tori Whitaker Takes Us Into a World of Flappers, Bourbon, and Antique Cars

March 28, 2023March 4, 2023Posted in History, Reading Life, Research, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

Tori Whitaker is back on the podcast this week to discuss A Matter of Happiness, a bittersweet novel about family, hard truths, and self-discovery in which a cherished heirloom opens up a century of secrets.

We discussed how she went about researching this time period, ways her writing process has changed after two books, drawing on her own life for literary inspiration, and much more.

“A thrill of a ride and a beautiful read. Violet and Melanie are connected across generations by blood, bourbon, cars, and a great need for independence. Tori Whitaker unfolds the narrative with a deep sense of history imbuing every sensational page, weaving the women’s stories until the inspiring conclusion. This is a compelling story of women who understand that we can choose our happiness and we can choose our lives. Whitaker crafts a riveting read about strength, fate, and choice that you will not want to put down until the very last page.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savanna

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Tori Whitaker is the bestselling author of Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish and A Matter of Happiness. She belongs to the Bourbon Women Association and the Historical Novel Society. Her work has appeared in the Historical Novels Review and Bookmarks magazine. Tori graduated from Indiana University, is an alum of the Yale Writers’ Workshop, and is recently retired from a national law firm where she served as chief marketing officer. She spent a decade in Detroit because of her husband’s career in the automotive industry. The two now reside near their children outside Atlanta and have been married for forty-five happy years. Connect with Tori through www.toriwhitaker.com.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 138 Sarah Penner on Following Up a Breakout Bestseller and Writing This Feminist, Gothic Mystery Set In Victorian London

March 7, 2023March 2, 2023Posted in History, Mystery, Research, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

Bestselling author Sarah Penner is back on to discuss her new novel, The London Seance Society, a spellbinding gothic whodunit introducing two enigmatic women who set out to solve a most unusual mystery.

“Penner has conjured up another winner. Bristling with tension and featuring strong women who aren’t afraid to defy conventions, this gothic mystery is both smart and seductive. Haunting in the best of ways, I swear I could feel the London fog on my cheek (or was that a spirit…) as I flew through the pages.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Sarah Penner is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LOST APOTHECARY, which has been translated into 40 languages worldwide. Sarah and her husband live in Florida. To learn more, visit SarahPenner.com.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 134: Lynne Reeves on Developing Domestic Suspense You Won’t Be Able to Stop Thinking About

February 7, 2023January 16, 2023Posted in Research, Suspense, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

This week, Lynne Reeves is on the podcast to discuss Dark Rivers to Cross, an emotionally charged thriller that explores long-buried family secrets and the deadly reckoning that follows their explosive reveal.

“A heart-in-your-throat page-turner that shines a compassionate light on the injustices surrounding domestic violence and the failures of our mental healthcare system.”
—Julie Carrick Dalton, author of Waiting for the Night Song

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Lynne Reeves Griffin is a nationally recognized expert on relationships and family life. Writing as Lynne Reeves, her novel of domestic suspense, The Dangers of an Ordinary Night was described by The New York Times as “a sensitive examination of a dysfunctional family and a full-of-secrets community that claims to be seeking the truth.”

Lynne is also the author of the acclaimed novels, Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books, 2015), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster, 2010), and Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press, 2009). She’s written the nonfiction guides Let’s Talk About It: Adolescent Mental Health (SixOneSeven Books, 2015) and Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment (Penguin, 2007).

Lynne has taught family studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and has acted as the visiting scholar of education at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore and consulted with schools in China about preventive mental health. She teaches writing at Grub Street Writers, and is a developmental editor for writers of fiction and nonfiction.

Lynne has acted as the prose writer-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution, moderated panels at national conferences such as the Muse & The Marketplace Conference, the Boston Book Festival, and the 2020 & 2022 Key West Literary Workshops.

Her short stories, essays, are articles have appeared in Cognoscenti, Solstice Literary Magazine; Chautauqua; The Drum Literary Magazine; Brain, Child; The Writer; School Library Journal; Parenting; Boston Globe; Writer Unboxed; Boston Herald; Psychology Today; Huffington Post, and more.

She lives outside Boston, Massachusetts with her family.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 132: Marie Benedict on Unearthing the Stories of Fascinating Women in History

January 24, 2023January 11, 2023Posted in History, Research, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

This week, Marie Benedict is on the podcast to discuss The Mitford Affair, an explosive novel of history’s most notorious sisters.

“In her latest book The Mitford Affair, Benedict plunges readers into a world of glamorous, charismatic young British debutantes and then turns that shiny world on its head. I was blown away–learning this true story of the Mitford sisters and the roles they played for and against the Nazis was nothing short of astonishing. Benedict delivers with all that readers have come to love and expect from her: nuance, elan, and the most delicious storytelling.”
― Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms, who found her calling unearthing the hidden historical stories of women. Her mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues. Marie’s novels have been translated into twenty-nine languages. Learn more at https://www.authormariebenedict.com/

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 128: Lynda Cohen Loigman on Writing as Comfort, Seeking the Whimsy in History, and Finding Inspiration in Unexpected Places

December 13, 2022December 6, 2022Posted in History, Research, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

Lynda Cohen Loigman joins me today to discuss her new novel, The Matchmaker’s Gift, a heartwarming story of two extraordinary women from two different eras who defy expectations to utilize their unique gift of seeing soulmates in the most unexpected places.

“Loigman’s latest is a gem. A scrappy Jewish teenager newly arrived in 1920s New York struggles to follow her calling as a matchmaker––seventy years later, her cynical divorce-attorney granddaughter realizes she has very inconveniently inherited the family gift for matching soulmates. Both funny and moving, The Matchmaker’s Gift made me smile from start to finish.”—Kate Quinn

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, MA. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. Her debut novel, Two-Family House, was a USA Today bestseller and a nominee for the Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards in Historical Fiction.

Her second novel, The Wartime Sisters, was selected as a Woman’s World Book Club pick and a Best Book of 2019 by Real Simple Magazine. The Matchmakers Gift is her third novel. Learn more at https://lyndacohenloigman.com/

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 127: Henriette Lazaridis on Secrets, Suffrage, and a Race to the South Pole

December 6, 2022December 2, 2022Posted in Research, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

This week my guest is Henriette Lazaridis, author of the new novel, Terra Nova, a haunting story of love, art, and betrayal, set against the heart-pounding backdrop of Antarctic exploration.

“From Viola, willing to risk all for women’s suffrage, to her husband—traveling with her secret lover—who risks all to be the first to reach the South Pole, this novel is an intelligent, literary page-turner of the best type.”—B.A. Shapiro, NYT bestselling author of Metropolis

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Henriette Lazaridis is the author of The Clover House, which was a Boston Globe bestseller. Her short work has appeared in ELLE, The New York Times, New England Review, The Millions, and more, and she has earned a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Grant. She is a graduate of Middlebury College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and the University of Pennsylvania. Having taught English at Harvard, she now teaches at GrubStreet in Boston. She founded The Drum Literary Magazine and currently runs the Krouna Writing Workshop in northern Greece. She writes the Substack newsletter The Entropy Hotel, at henriettelazaridis.substack.com. For more, visit henriettelazaridis.com.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep 126: LaToya Watkins on Method Writing and the Evolution of Her Debut Novel, Perish

November 29, 2022November 28, 2022Posted in Research, WritingTagged author, PodcastLeave a comment

This week my guest is Latoya Watkins, author of the powerful debut novel, Perish, about a Black Texan family, exploring the effects of inherited trauma and intergenerational violence as the family comes together to say goodbye to their matriarch on her deathbed.*

“With Perish, Watkins joins a tradition of Southern writers who delve into the taboo and grotesque to expose a dark past and a dim, backtracking present. . .Like Walker’s The Color Purple and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Perish lures readers past the pain with a spellbinding, buoyant use of language.”—Texas Monthly

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

LaToya Watkins’s writing has appeared in A Public Space, The Sun, McSweeney’s, Kenyon Review, The Pushcart Prize Anthology (2015), and elsewhere. She has received grants, scholarships, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, MacDowell Colony, Hedgebrook, and A Public Space. She holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas. Perish is her debut novel. Learn more here.

*Perish delves into some really difficult topics including the trauma of sexual abuse so if that’s not something you’re in a mental space to hear discussed you might want to switch to another episode.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep 116: Julia Kelly on Capturing the End of One Era for the Queen and British High Society

September 14, 2022September 14, 2022Posted in History, Research, WritingLeave a comment

Today Julia Kelly is on the podcast to discuss her historical novel, The Last Dance of the Debutante, a masterful, glittering novel that whisks you to midcentury Britain as it follows three of the last debutantes to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II.

We recorded this conversation before the Queen’s passing. It’s fascinating to hear more about the ending of one era for England in the 1950s as we witness another time of change today.

“Julia Kelly elegantly brings to life the last official presentation of debutantes at court with her exquisitely researched and beautiful written detail in The Last Dance of the Debutante. This story was so decadent, I wanted to don silk and crinoline and read it with a glass of champagne.” —Madeline Martin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London

You can also listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

About the Author:

Julia Kelly is the international bestselling author of historical women’s fiction books about the extraordinary stories of the past. Her books have been translated into 13 languages. She has also written historical romance. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London.

You can find out more about her books at her website https://www.juliakellywrites.com/.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 97: Jennieke Cohen, Author of My Fine Fellow

March 28, 2022March 28, 2022Posted in History, Research, Young AdultLeave a comment

Jennieke Cohen is on the podcast this week to discuss her new young adult novel, My Fine Fellow, which is a retelling of My Fair Lady set in 1830s London.

I adored My Fine Fellow and agree with author Stacey Lee who called it “a fun dish of a novel with a healthy sprinkle of feminism. My Fine Fellow is fresh as the rain in Spain.”

You can also listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jennieke Cohen is a Filipina-American author of young adult historical fiction. Her debut novel, Dangerous Alliance, was a Junior Library Guild selection and has been translated into multiple languages. Jennieke studied English history at Cambridge University and has a master’s degree in professional writing from the University of Southern California.

To learn more about Jennieke Cohen and follow her on social media visit https://www.jenniekecohen.com.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.

Ep. 96: Patti Callahan Henry, Author of Once Upon a Wardrobe

March 7, 2022Posted in Books for Adults, History, Research1 Comment

Bestselling novelist and Friends & Fiction co-host Patti Callahan Henry joins the show this week to tell us about her new book Once Upon a Wardrobe, which pulls back the curtain on the early life of C. S. Lewis.

We discussed what the Narnia books have meant to Patti, how the pandemic set this novel in motion, soaking up the magic of the setting on a research trip, and much more.

“I advise you to read this book, then wait for a while and then read it again, for while it may not be Narnia, there is magic in it.” —Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis’ Stepson

You can also listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sixteen novels and podcast host. She is the recipient of The Christy Award 2019 Winner “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2020 and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for 2019. She is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly online Friends and Fiction live web show and podcast. Patti is also a contributor to the monthly life lesson essay column for Parade Magazine. A full-time author and mother of three, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.

To learn more about Patti Callahan Henry and follow her on social media visit https://www.patticallahanhenry.com/.

Browse Books Mentioned On This Episode:

Looking for a book mentioned on the podcast? Want to browse books by past guests? Visit A Bookish Home Podcast’s Bookshop.org page.

Happy Reading and Listening,

Laura Szaro Kopinski

ABookishHome.com

*A Bookish Home is now an affiliate of Bookshop.org. At no extra cost to you, we receive a small commission if you purchase something through the Bookshop.org links provided.