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Tonight, we’ll read the 7th chapter to “Good Wives” written by Louisa May Alcott. This is also known as the second half of the “Little Women” novel and is considered the 30th chapter as part of that work as a whole.

Our last episode was the chapter titled “Calls” in which Amy March, the youngest of the March sisters, navigates her social life and responsibilities. Amy is given the task of calling on the various high-society women in their town, a duty she undertakes with a mixture of determination and trepidation. As she visits each home, Amy observes and interacts with the women, learning valuable lessons about social etiquette, personal ambition, and the complexities of adult relationships.

During her calls, Amy encounters a range of characters, from the pretentious and insincere Mrs. Chester to the more genuine and kind-hearted Mrs. Moffat. These interactions provide Amy with insights into the social expectations and superficial judgments that often govern society. Despite feeling somewhat out of place and intimidated, Amy maintains her composure and grace.

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Tonight, we’ll read a Brazilian fairy tale called “The Seaside Princess from Brazil” or “Why the Sea Moans” from the collection by Elsie Spicer Eells’s “Fairy Tales from Brazil” published in 1917. This story was originally adapted and published by Snoozecast in 2021.The author Spicer Eells was an American researcher of folklore and a writer who traveled in the early years of the twentieth century across the Atlantic basin. Having traveled in the 1920s and ‘30s to various countries as a researcher at The Hispanic Society of America in New York, Eells was the author of numerous collections of short stories and legends based on the oral tradition of various regions she visited, including the Brazilian one we found.‍

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Tonight, we’ll read the beginning of “The Rainbow”, a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence. “The Rainbow” tells the story of three generations of the Brangwen family, a dynasty of farmers and craftsmen who live in the east Midlands of England, on the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The book spans a period of roughly 65 years from the 1840s to 1905, and shows how the love relationships of the Brangwens change against the backdrop of the increasing industrialisation of Britain. The first central character, Tom Brangwen, is a farmer whose experience of the world does not stretch beyond these two counties; while the last, Ursula, his granddaughter, studies at university and becomes a teacher in the progressively urbanised, capitalist and industrial world.

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Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Persuasion”, the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen, and published in 1817. The story concerns Anne Elliot, a twenty-seven year old Englishwoman, whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife.

In the last episode, Anne Elliot visits Uppercross and is struck by the stark contrast between the concerns of the Musgroves and those of her family at Kellynch Hall. Despite the short distance between the two places, the conversations and interests at Uppercross revolve around local and everyday matters like hunting, household management, and social gatherings, rather than the weighty and publicized affairs of Kellynch. Anne learns a humbling lesson about her own insignificance outside her familiar circle and resolves to integrate herself into Uppercross life, finding solace in the genuine sympathy of her friend Lady Russell.

Anne's stay at Uppercross proves manageable, as she gets along with her sister Mary, enjoys the company of her nephews, and recognizes Charles Musgrove's amiable nature, despite his lack of intellectual zeal. She often acts as a mediator between her sister and the Musgroves, trying to balance their complaints and grievances. Anne's spirits are lifted by the change of scenery and subjects, and the visit of the Crofts, the new tenants of Kellynch Hall, stirs her emotions as they mention Captain Wentworth, a significant figure from her past.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes” by Miss Parloa.

The Maya believed that cacao was discovered by the gods in a mountain along with other delectable foods, for their divine use. According to Maya mythology, the Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created by the divine grandmother goddess.

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Tonight, we’ll read a selection from “The Crow’s Nest”, also known as “On the other side of the latch” by Sara Jeanette Duncan, who also published as Mrs. Everard Cotes and Garth Grafton.

Duncan worked as a travel writer for Canadian newspapers and a columnist for the Toronto Globe and eventually the Washington Post. Later she made a journey to India and married an Anglo-Indian civil servant thereafter dividing her time between England and India. She wrote 22 works of fiction, many with international themes and settings.

Unlike her travel writing, The Crow’s Nest is a memoir of description and not action as Duncan spends her time in recovery at a mountain house in Simla, India as she undergoes a rest cure for tuberculosis.

In the passage we’ll read tonight, Duncan pauses contemplating her current situation and turns her attention to the garden at the home where she is exiled.

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