Book In

Rupert Fordham and Charlie Fordham
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Book In is a podcast in which brothers Rupert and Charlie Fordham discuss all things English Literature. From Chaucer to the present day, covering drama, novels and poetry, they cover all the classics and much more, from the UK, Ireland, the US, Europe and the rest of the world. Informative but lighthearted, Book In is suitable for all readers, and will be helpful for students doing GCSE, A-Level and university English degrees as well.    Both Rupert and Charlie have been keen readers all their lives and both studied English at university. For many years Charlie taught English at GCSE and A-level. 

  1. The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy - Part 1

    2D AGO

    The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy - Part 1

    Thomas Hardy lived an extraordinary life. He was born into poverty and obscurity in rural Dorset in 1840, yet when he died in 1928, he was rich and world famous. His funeral at Westminster Abbey was a quasi-state occasion, with all the leading politicians and writers of the day attending, and thousands of people lining the streets of London in tribute. As a child, he remembered his grandmother recalling the French Revolution, yet he lived through the first world war into a world of motor cars, radio and television, and mass democracy. He was unhappily married to his first wife, Emma, yet when she died, he was consumed with grief and remorse, and the poetry he produced in the two years after her death is some of the finest love poetry ever written. In a two part episode of Book In, Charlie and Rupert look at one of his greatest novels, The Mayor of Casterbridge, the tragic story of Michael Henchard, who rose from rural obscurity to being the richest and most powerful man in the area. But his past catches up with him; the terrible thing he did when he was young comes back to haunt him, and his fall is public and complete. As in so many of his books, Hardy takes us back to the rural world of his youth, and shows us the lives that the people he knew as a young man were living. But even when he was writing the novel, it was a world that had passed; we see the emergence of new men, new ideas and new technologies, and the destructive effect these have on the old way of life. What is the role of the town of Casterbridge in the story? How is Henchard like Hardy? To what extent is Henchard brought down by his own actions, and to what extent is he a victim of the remorseless fate in which Hardy believed? And what on earth is a skimmity ride? Join Rupert and Charlie to find out.

    53 min
  2. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Part 2

    FEB 13

    Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Part 2

    Rupert and Charlie continue their discussion of Great Expectations. They take a look at what was always one of Dickens' great preoccupations, the operation of the law in the book, and the brilliant character of Jaggers the lawyer and his sidekick, Wemmick.  The prison hulks on the Thames from which Magwitch escapes were well known to Dickens as a child, and the descriptions of the court, where 32 people are sentenced to death, are unforgettable. As so often in Dickens, the cast of minor characters are rich and varied, and we look at many of them including Trabb's Boy who torments Pip once he has become a gentleman; Wopsle, the fruity and absurd actor; Pumblechook, who insists on giving Pip rolling mental arithmetic tests to humiliate him, and Bentley Drummle, the lugubrious rich man's son who manages to marry Estella. But is the melodrama overdone? Are the plot twists and coincidences too convoluted to be credible? And is this Charles Dickens' finest novel? Join Rupert and Charlie to find out.

    52 min
  3. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Part 1

    FEB 6

    Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Part 1

    Published at the height of his powers in 1860, Great Expectations is Charles Dickens’ penultimate novel, and one of his very greatest. Its characters are unforgettable - Miss Havisham, self-imprisoned in her wedding dress and with her wedding feast laid on the table in the forbidding Satis House; her ward Estella, haughty, ice-cold and unreachable, the agent of Miss Havisham’s intended revenge on men and on the world; Magwitch, the desperate and terrifying convict who confronts the young boy Pip in a graveyard on the Kent marshes; and the intimidating, brilliant and untouchable lawyer Jaggers, who seems to act as a puppet master to many of the characters throughout the story. In the first of two episodes, Rupert and Charlie explore Dickens’ childhood, and how the experience of being forced to work in a factory at the age of 12, and seeing his father being imprisoned for debt, affected him for the rest of his life. Charlie talks about the brilliance of so many of the openings of Dickens novels, especially this one, and looks at Dickens' rich and vivid portrayal of London and the Kent marshes. But what are the great expectations that Pip has, and who else has them too? When they aren’t realised, what hard truths does Pip learn? And why did Dickens write several different endings to the novel? Join Rupert and Charlie to find out.

    51 min
  4. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë - Part 2

    JAN 30

    Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë - Part 2

    In the second of the episodes on Jane Eyre, Rupert and Charlie take a look at some of the main characters in the book. The behaviour of Mr Rochester is basically weird - he locks up his wife in the attic, dresses up as a female gypsy fortune teller, and flirts with Blanche Ingram when he's really in love with Jane. Why does he do this? Why did he marry Bertha in the first place? And why does he risk his life to save her? When Jane leaves Rochester, she finds shelter with a family who turn out to be her cousins. One of them is the terrifying St John Rivers, an evangelical soldier of Christ who wants Jane to join him in his journey. Why does she refuse? What is Charlotte Bronte's attitude to religion in this book? How does Jane suddenly find herself rich, and what does she do with the money? And is Jane Eyre as good as Wuthering Heights? Join Book In as we conclude our discussion of this wonderful and hugely influential novel.

    55 min
  5. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë - Part 1

    JAN 23

    Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë - Part 1

    Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte's most famous book and one of the most celebrated, controversial and loved novels ever written. Millions who have never read it know about the mysterious Mr Rochester, the mad wife he kept locked up in his attic, and the image of her throwing herself from the battlements of Thornfield as she burned it to the ground, Mr Rochester blinding and maiming himself as he tries to save her. The novel is the story of an orphaned and plain girl, Jane Eyre, who despite the disadvantages of her start in life, is determined to find independence and fulfillment. Bronte explores issues of female equality and what kind of power balance is needed to have a successful marriage. The book was an instant success, and, once her identity had been revealed, Charlotte became famous and comfortably off; but she was never very comfortable in the fashionable literary salons of London, preferring to live most of her life in the Parsonage at Haworth in Yorkshire where her father was the curate. What does the book say about the professional and emotional prospects for a strong minded, intelligent woman in Victorian England? Why does Jane refuse Rochester's offer of living with him as her mistress in the south of France? Are the coincidences in the story clumsy plot devices or indications of the divine work of God's providence? Is the book racist in its treatment of Rochester's first wife? Why does Jane learn Hindustanee? And do Jane and Rochester really end up with the perfect marriage? Join Rupert and Charlie as they discuss this most wonderful of C19th novels.

    55 min
  6. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

    JAN 13

    Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

    In 1816, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was staying on the shores of Lake Geneva with his young wife Mary, and his friends Lord Byron and John Polidori. It was the year without a summer, and, confined to the house by the terrible weather, they each agreed to write a ghost story. Over the next few weeks, the 19 year old Mary produced Frankenstein, one of the most consequential and influential books ever written. Fusing the Gothic and Romantic, it tells the story of the brilliant young scientist Victor Frankenstein, who discovers how to make a living creature out of old body parts. His creation is the Monster; endlessly recreated in film, TV and painting, the story has haunted the western imagination ever since. Is Frankenstein’’s creation a tragic figure or an inhuman force for evil? What responsibility do we have for what we create? Why are we terrified of new technologies? And whatever happened to Mary Shelley? Join Rupert and Charlie as they explore this most iconic of novels.

    55 min
  7. Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

    JAN 5

    Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

    Small Things Like These is a short novel by the Irish writer Claire Keegan. It tells the story of Bill Furlong, a coal merchant in a small provincial town in the mid 1980s. As Christmas approaches, he delivers some coal to the local convent, and by chance discovers a girl there who is being kept in a coalshed. It is clear she is in distress and Bill is faced with a choice - should he do nothing, or act? Through Bill's story, we learn of the hold of the Catholic Church on the community, and the existence of the Magdalene laundries, in which unmarried mothers were kept, normally against their will. Does Keegan's light and deft style fully convey the horror of the laundries, which were common throughout the Church until the 1990s? Are there echoes of A Christmas Carol? And does the book ever topple over into overt sentimentality? Surely not from an Irish writer! Join Charlie and Rupert as they discuss this fine novella, short listed for the 2022 Booker Prize.

    54 min
  8. Christmas Poems

    12/23/2025

    Christmas Poems

    Charlie and Rupert look at three great poems associated with Christmas - In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti, a section from In Memoriam by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and The Magi by W.B.Yeats. Rossetti's is a much loved and beautiful Christmas Carol, Tennyson's is a highly crafted meditation on some of the great themes of the mid C19th, and Yeats' a more primal reflection on faith and the connections between folklore and religion. But they all refer to Christmas either directly or indirectly; Charlie explores their derivations and intentions and reflects on how successful each one is.

    44 min
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About

Book In is a podcast in which brothers Rupert and Charlie Fordham discuss all things English Literature. From Chaucer to the present day, covering drama, novels and poetry, they cover all the classics and much more, from the UK, Ireland, the US, Europe and the rest of the world. Informative but lighthearted, Book In is suitable for all readers, and will be helpful for students doing GCSE, A-Level and university English degrees as well.    Both Rupert and Charlie have been keen readers all their lives and both studied English at university. For many years Charlie taught English at GCSE and A-level. 

Information

  • Creator
    Rupert Fordham and Charlie Fordham
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Book In
  • Show Website
    Book In