Loves Labours Watched Loves Labours Watched

This episode we speak to debut author Sophie Haydock about The Flames, her historical novel about four women who were painted by Austrian artist Egon Schiele. Sophie chatted to us about recentering women in history, her inspiration for the novel and her popular corresponding Instagram account @egonschieleswomen. Later, we chat about the return of Netflix fave Bridgerton. Find out all our thoughts on Kate and Anthony, our hopes for next season and why we were so excited to see Rupert Young AKA Merlin's Sir Leon pop up (expect some spoilers for Bridgerton Season 2) Get in touch with us with your thoughts @RealLLW on Twitter and @LovesLaboursWatched on Instagram. Shout out to Alex Egge (@aneggeaday on Instagram)for our lovely logo too!

We're back and we're thrilled to be interviewing Meg Mason, author of best-selling hit Sorrow and Bliss, a novel that's taken the world by storm. The bittersweet tale of Martha, a woman whose marriage is on the rocks and who is struggling with an undiagnosed mental illness, is warm, candid and unforgettable. Meg spoke to us about her writing process, comparisons to Jane Austen and how the book balances humor and realism. Our chat isn't too specific, but from 24:46-28:10 and 34:33-34:45 there are some spoilers around the novel's ending, so skip those parts if you haven't got round to reading the book yet.
Later in the episode we discuss Red (Taylor's Version), Taylor Swift's rerecorded and released version of her classic 2012 album. Expect a deep dive into the lyrics, imagery, music and, of course, the All Too Well short film.
Get in touch with us @RealLLW on Twitter and @LovesLaboursWatched on Instagram. Shout out to Alex Egge (@aneggeaday)for our lovely logo too!

This month on Loves Labours Watched we're speaking with author Rosanna Amaka about her beautiful debut novel The Book of Echoes. Switching between London and Nigeria, the novel is about love, hope and time, charting how history is never static, but reverberates through to the present. Rosanna wrote The Book of Echoes to celebrate the African Caribbean community in which she grew up in Brixton, south London, and she worked on the book for 20 years. It was published in 2020, and is out in paperback in the UK now.
Later in the episode, we continue our Marvel chat with a discussion of new Disney+ show Loki, along with our thoughts on Scarlett Johansson-led movie Black Widow, also starring LLW fave Florence Pugh. Expect spoilers for both!
Plus, we're absolutely delighted to have a brilliant new logo designed by Alex Egge, who you can find at @aneggeaday on Instagram. We hope you love it as much as we do, and enjoy the episode!

This month on Loves Labours Watched we're speaking with author Zakiya Dalila Harris about The Other Black Girl, her New York Times bestselling debut novel. We talk to Zakiya about publishing's diversity problem, and how she blended elements of realism, sci-fi and horror to depict the ways in which white supremacy asserts itself in the workplace. Zakiya also discusses the novel's upcoming TV adaptation, which she's working on with Rashida Jones, and why she loves TV show Search Party. Later, Helena and Francesca chat about Bo Burnham's Inside, the comedian-writer-director's Netflix comedy special that takes a humorous but pointed look at the role of the internet in our lives, and which was filmed over the course of the past pandemic year. If you enjoy this episode, please leave us a rating and review, or get in touch on social media. See you next time!

This month we connect with New York Times bestselling author Maggie Shipstead about her new novel Great Circle, an enveloping, lyrical and ambitious novel about a 1940s female aviator and the modern-day actress who is hired to play her in a biopic. We enjoyed a fascinating discussion with Maggie all about how the megastardom of the Twilight stars influenced the story, her globe-spanning research process and how Great Circle plays with ideas of narrative and storytelling. We then continue the bookish chat with a discussion of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction nominees, which include previous LLW guest Brit Bennett. Finally, Francesca updates us on her WandaVision-prompted Marvel journey and so we discuss some (mostly Sebastian-Stan-related) thoughts on the Captain America series. Enjoy!

This month we're chatting to Laura Kay, author of the heartwarming new rom-com The Split. We chat to Laura about how she centered queer narratives, why main characters don't have to be likable and why Louise Rennison's Angus Thongs series remains a masterpiece to this day. Later, we dive deep into WandaVision, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first Disney+ offering. We discuss how the show recreates sitcoms past, why Elizabeth Olsen's performance is so spectacular, how the show plays with themes of narration and storytelling and why its resonating with former MCU sceptics, including Francesca. Enjoy!