We’re kicking off season 5 with a read-along of The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. This week, we have not one, but two doctors in the house! Eleanor Rust joins us as co-host to discuss chapters 1-15, and Dr. Kate Scarth from the L.M. Montgomery Institute returns to talk about pairing L.M. Montgomery with Jane Austen. We also read some insightful listener comments about The Blue Castle, and discuss Isabella Valancy Crawford.

Bonnets at Dawn

S5, E1: The Blue Castle Read-Along Pt 1 w/Dr Kate Scarth

This week, we are talking about soooo many women writers in relation to L.M. Montgomery including Christina Rossetti, Pauline Johnson, Charlotte Brontë, and Jane Austen (again). Dr. Amber Pouliot joins us in the co-host chair to discuss chapters 16-30 of The Blue Castle, Goblin Market, and sex. We also interview Dr. Brenton Dickieson, host of The Maud Cast, about L.M. Montgomery, John Foster, and Bluebeard. You can find The Maud Cast wherever you get your podcasts, or on Twitter @LMMIMaudCast.

S5, E2: The Blue Castle Pt 2 w/Dr. Brenton Dickieson

Hannah returns to breakdown the final chapters of The Blue Castle! Dr. Sarah Mesle shares her takeaways from the book, and we talk about sex, women’s health, Henry David Thoreau vs. John Foster vs. Susan Fenimore Cooper, and read some listener comments. It’s an action-packed episode.

S5, E3: The Blue Castle Pt 3 w/Dr. Sarah Mesle

This week, we’re welcoming Dr. Fiona Sampson back to the show to discuss her new book entitled Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. We also get into specifics regarding EBB’s family money, illness, legacy, and what should be included in her biopic.

S5.3, E2: Elizabeth Barrett Browning with Dr. Fiona Sampson

This week, we’re talking ghosts, gossip, and gambling with Clio O’Sullivan from Chawton House Library! We discuss the scandalous actress and author Mary Robinson and the connection she shares with Scottish botanical illustrator Elizabeth Blackwell.

S5.3, E4: Scandal and Coffee and Mary Robinson with Clio O’Sullivan

We’re wrapping up our mini-series on Sex, Scandal, and Social Climbers with Dr. Arielle Zibrak, who is here to discuss the role of bonnets in 19th century literature, bodice rippers, and guilty pleasures. We also carry on our discussion about race in literature, Taylor Swift, and even get into Jane Austen’s Emma and Keanu Reeves. 

Find Arielle on the internet at https://www.ariellezibrak.com/

S5.3, E5: Guilty Pleasures and Critical Bonnet Studies with Dr. Arielle Zibrak

This week,  Dr. Arielle Zibrak and Dr. Sarah Mesle join us to discuss our love of Kate Winslet, The Holiday, the pleasures of knitwear, and our favorite reads of 2021. We also talk about romcoms, Austen and Ephron, comfort reading, and read just a few of your amazing book recommendations.

S5, Bonus: Best Reads of 2021, aka The Holiday Holiday Special

FINALLY. This week, we’re talking about Passing by Nella Larsen. We also compare and contrast it to the 2021 film adaptation by Rebecca Hall and the short story Passing by Langston Hughes. Spoilers ahead.

S6, E5: Nella Larsen's Passing

This week is all about the beloved/hated novel, Wuthering Heights! We sat down with Dr. Lydia Craig to discuss Tylney Hall (a possible source text and inspiration for WH) and reading Heathcliff as a person of color. We also talk adaptations, Wuthering Heights as horror, Charlotte Brontë’s Villette, and the musical Cats.

S6, E6: Otherness and Horror in Wuthering Heights w/Dr. Lydia Craig

This week, we are discussing My Contraband by Louisa May Alcott and The Half-Caste by Dinah Craik. These stories may seem different on the surface, but share quite a few similarities. We talk about how these authors handle interracial relationships, the East India Company, and make comparisons to Sense & Sensibility and Jane Eyre. 

Spoilers ahead. You can find both stories for free online if you’d like to read before listening.

S6, E7: Race, Romance, and Empire in the short works of Louisa May Alcott and Dinah Craik

This week, spooky story specialist Dr. Melissa Edmundson talks to us about her Broadview edition of The Uninhabited House by Charlotte Riddell and helps us understand why the Victorians were so obsessed with ghost stories. We also discuss “Business Gothic'' and recommend some scary stories by Edith Nesbit.

S6, E8: The Haunting Tales of Charlotte Riddell with Dr. Melissa Edmundson

This week, we’ve curated a selection of haunting short stories and poems by Virginia Woolf, Amy Levy, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Emily Dickinson, for another B@D Mixtape - part podcast, part audiobook.

B@D MIxtape #2: A Haunted House?

This week we’ve specially selected pieces with a strong sense of place by Zitkala Sa, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Emily Lawless, and George Eliot for another B@D Mixtape. Come with us as we explore an English country garden, the Yankton Reservation, a bustling alleyway in New Orleans, and a quiet London drawing room.

Special thanks to Sassy, Katie, Desiree, and _HAP_ from Freesound.org

Bonneta at Dawn

B@D Mixtape #3: Sense of Place

For the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing George Eliot, her entanglements, and reading Silas Marner through a fairytale lens. This week, we recap chapters 1-4, and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot to highlight our favorite passages of the book.

S6, E9: George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner, pt 1

This week, we continue our discussion on George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner. The book is getting very Eastenders as we recap chapters 5-12 and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot to highlight our favorite quotes from the book.

S6, E10: George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner, pt 2

We’re still banging on about George Eliot and Silas Marner! This week, we recap chapters 13 -16, talk nature and Wordsworth, and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot.

S6, E11: George Eliot and Silas Marner, pt 3

This week, we’ve come to the end of our Silas Marner read-along! Voice actress Katie Mosley joins us one last time as we recap chapters 17-22 and discuss all of the Silas Marner adaptations, including Steve Martin’s A Simple Twist of Fate.

S6, E12: George Eliot and Silas Marner, pt 4

In this action-packed episode, we discuss our favorite reads of 2022, YOUR favorite reads of 2022, and interview some very special literary guests. First up - authors Lorraine Tosiello and Jane Cavolina discuss their book, "The Bee and the Fly: The Improbable Correspondence of Louisa May Alcott and Emily Dickinson". Roseann Backlin from Love’s Sweet Arrow recommends some romance novels we should pick up in 2023, and Eliza Tudor from Old Iron Press talks about retooled classics and the books she loved reading this year.

Best Reads of 2022, pt1: Louisa & Emily, Romance Reads, and Old Iron Press

This week, we’re talking about forgotten novelists, scandalous carriage rides, and Jane Austen with two of our favorite authors. First up, Devoney Looser tells us more about Jane and Maria Porter, the subjects of her nonfiction book Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Sisters, Who Paved The Way for Austen and the Brontës. And later, we are joined by Nikki Payne, who discusses her modern Austen retelling Pride and Protest.

Best Reads of 2022, pt2: Jane Austen and the Porter Sisters w/Devoney Looser and Nikki Payne

Welcome to episode 0 of Austen vs. Brontë: Bonnets at Dawn!  A podcast so fresh, co-host Lauren Burke forgets the title of her own show while her partner-in-crime, Hannah K Chapman, breaks down in a gravy-induced coughing fit.  Despite their difficulties, the girls endeavor to explain the premise of this project and give you a little background on their love of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters.

Austen Vs Bronte

Episode 0: The Disastrous Introduction

It's 3 a.m., I must be loopy...

Welcome to Episode 1! A less (?) disastrous introduction.  Lauren and Hannah discuss North and South England, the book North & South, Richard Armitage, Ghostbusters and the early lives of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters.  Please excuse any historical inaccuracies.

Episode 1: Steventon vs Haworth

Lauren goes solo for an interview with the lovely Rose Servitova, author of The Longbourn Letters: The Correspondence between Mr. Collins and Mr. Bennet and curator of the Jane Austen 200 Limerick Festival.  

Follow Rose on Twitter @RoseServitova 
Check out her book on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Longbourn-Letters-Correspondence-between-Collins-ebook/dp/B06X3SQYCP

Episode 2: The Longbourn Letters Interview

Live from the newly christened podcast hut, Lauren and Hannah discuss the Brontë and Austen juvenilia and plot a book heist.

Episode 3: Love & Freindship [sic] vs The Secret

Hold on to your bonnets,  because it's our best episode yet!  We discuss/rant/rave about two versions of P&P we've never seen until now. 
 It's time for Pride & Prejudice (2003) vs. Pride & Prejudice (1940)!  That Laurence Olivier is really something, eh?

Episode 4: Not My Pride and Prejudice

We've been plagued with technical difficulties, but we're BACK with an episode about he upcoming Pride & Prejudice adaptation and listener feedback! The fancasting is strong in this one.

#RogerAllamforMrBennet

Bonnets At Dawn

Episode 15: Tales From Bonnets At Dawn

Lauren and Hannah recap the first ten chapters of their new favorite book - North and South.  They also discuss ferns! Listener comments! And the life of Elizabeth Gaskell. 

Forgive the lateness and the poor audio! Zencastr chewed this episode up and spit it back out in one million little pieces.

Gaskell Episode 1: North and South Recap

We are currently on break, but we hope you will enjoy this late-night rambler where we continue our discussion on Lucy Snowe and Anne Elliot!

Bonus Episode: Anne Eliot vs Lucy Snowe FOR REAL THIS TIME

This week, we’re joined by Dr. Amber Pouliot to discuss Charlotte Brontë, gothic drama, and literary afterlives.  Elizabeth Gaskell, Harriet Beecher Stowe and George Eliot even drop in to say hi.

S3, Episode 14: Charlotte Brontë w/Special Guest Dr. Amber Pouliot

It’s the first episode of our Mansfield Park read-along and boy do we have a treat for you! Hannah interviews Dr Helena Kelley, author of Jane Austen the Secret Radical, and talks all things Austen and Mansfield Park. There are a lot of Henry Crawford feelings.

S3, Episode 16: Mansfield Park Pt 1 w/Helena Kelley

We’re back! This week, we’re talking you through The Alpine Path by L.M. Montgomery. This essay is full of great writing advice, childhood anecdotes, and quotes like, “I drained the cup of failure to the very dregs.” Put that on a postcard.

S4.2, Episode 5: L.M. Montgomery & The Alpine Path

This week, we’re taking you back to the Lake District to visit Wordsworth Grasmere, home of Dorothy and William Wordsworth. Thanks so much to Assistant Curator Poppy Garrett for busting out the white gloves and taking us behind the scenes to show us paintings, journals and camel phlegm.

S4.2, Episode 7: Dorothy & Wordsworth Grasmere

Austen vs. Brontë is a literary thunderdome! Listen each week as Lauren and Hannah compare and contrast the lives, work and fandoms of the Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters.

Bonnets At Dawn

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