This is the third in our re-released episodes – and only the second one we ever recorded. Has Jean Rhys’s reputation and influence grown since then? Does a seven-year-old Backlisted still pass muster? All this (and more) are considered in Andy’s new introduction. Enjoy!

John and Andy are joined by novelist Linda Grant and Unbound's Mathew Clayton to discuss Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys, first published in 1939. Rhys is still best known for her 1966 novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, but as well as making a strong case for her earlier work, there is a lively discussion of perfume, the previously unheard-of genre of Scandinavian magic realism, and Andy spots a mistake in the best selling science book of all time.

Books Mentioned:
Tove Jansson - The Winter Book, Moominpappa at Sea, Moominvalley in November
Stephen Hawking - A Brief History of Time
George Orwell - 1984, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Coming Up For Air
Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Back, Upstairs at the Party, I Murdered My Library
Jean Rhys - Quartet, After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, Voyage in the Dark, Good Morning, Midnight, Wide Sargasso Sea
David Plante - Difficult Women

Other Links:
Paris Review Interview
A character to root for
L’Heure Bleue