Lost Ladies of Lit

Amy Helmes & Kim Askew
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A book podcast hosted by writing partners Amy Helmes and Kim Askew. Guests include biographers, journalists, authors, and cultural historians discussing lost classics by women writers. You can support Lost Ladies of Lit by visiting https://www.patreon.com/c/LostLadiesofLit339. 

  1. 6d ago

    Women Diarists with Betsy Rubiner

    Send us Fan Mail Chronicles, confidantes, confessionals. Diaries have historically served all these purposes and more, allowing women to speak out in a world that sometimes preferred they keep mum (just ask Mrs. Samuel Pepys). But where should these very personal recollections end up once the lives they document cease? We explore the options this week with author Betsy Rubiner, whose new book Our Diaries, Ourselves explores the phenomenon of diary-writing and its importance. Along the way, we’ll explore some of the “lost lady” diarists whose private records are worth reading. Mentioned in this episode: Lost Ladies of Lit “Become A Patron” Our Diaries, Ourselves: How Diarists Chronicle Their Lives and Document Our World by Betsy Rubiner The Diary of Anne Frank The Diary of Samuel Pepys James Boswell’s London Journal  The Extraordinary Work of Ordinary Writing by Jennifer Sinor.  Anais Nin Virginia Woolf Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney The American Diary Project  A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785 to 1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich  The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon The Diary of Anne Lister “Gentleman Jack”  Emilie Davis' Civil War: The Diaries of a Free Black Woman in Philadelphia 1863 to 1865 edited by Judith Geisbert   Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Francis Davis by Karsonya Wise Whitehead.  The Reconstruction Diary of Frances Anne Rollin edited by Jennifer Putzi  Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below by Jane Kamensky   Secret Voices: A Year of Women's Diaries edited by Sarah Gristwood.   The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World’s Greatest Diarists edited by Irene and Alan Taylor  The Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern Sampler edited by Suzanne L. Bunkers.  A Day at a Time: The Diary Literature of American Women From 1764 to Present edited by Margo Culley  Revelations: Diaries of Women edited by Mary Jane Moffat and Charlotte Painter  Life Notes: Personal Writings by Contemporary Black Women edited by Patricia Bell-Scott  We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the 19th Century edited by Dorothy Sterling Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  2. Sep 15

    The Gospel of Mary with Sarah Parkhouse

    Send us Fan Mail First surfacing in 1896 at a marketplace in Cairo, scraps of ancient papyrus left scholars gobsmacked by the discovery: a fragmented account of Mary Magdalene in conversation with Jesus and his disciples. The codex’s circuitous path to publication in the mid-20th century is almost as compelling a tale as the gospel itself, which redefines the role of women in early Christianity and features a salvation that’s rooted in individual agency. Religious historian Sarah Parkhouse joins us from the University of Manchester to discuss the reclamation of Mary’s words and historical reputation, as well as how newly unearthed Greek fragments lend credence to this long-lost gnostic text. Mentioned in this episode: The Gospel of Mary Read The Gospel of Mary Mary Magdalene Eschatology and the Savior: The ‘Gospel of Mary’ among Early Christian Dialogue Gospels by Sarah Parkhouse The Gospel of Mary Magdala by Karen L. King Carl Reinhardt Irenaeus The concept of Entanglement in the Gospel of Mary The Dark Tower by Stephen King The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown Oxyrhynchus Pope Gregory I The Gospel of Philip Sophia: The Wisdom of God by Sergei Bulgakov History of The Acts of Paul and Thecla Read The Acts of Paul and Thecla The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture About a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth by Meggan Watterson “Has a Missing Fragment of the Gospel of Mary Been Discovered?” from The Bible and Beyond Podcast Discussion on Mary Magdalene’s influence on the songs of Tori Amos Video clip from The Gospel of Mary opera by Mark Adamo Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  3. Sep 1

    Celia Fremlin — The Hours Before Dawn with Emily Midorikawa

    Send us Fan Mail “Things that go bump in the night…?” Try sleep-deprived mothers, for starters. British author Celia Fremlin recognized the terrors of trying to hold it together while caring for young children, earning her an Edgar Award for her 1959 debut novel The Hours Before Dawn. Having recently published her own suspense-filled novel, returning guest Emily Midorikawa joins us to discuss Fremlin’s ability to cast a dark shadow on domesticity. This page-turning tale of a beleaguered mum facing inner doubts and outward threats will also kick off the first “Lost Ladies of Lit” online reading group, generously hosted by The Sitting Room Library. Mentioned in this episode: Reading Group for The Hours Before Dawn hosted by The Sitting Room Library. The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin A Tiny Speck of Black and Then Nothing by Emily Midorikawa Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice by Emily Midorikawa A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 85 on Mary Taylor Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 286 on Mary Elizabeth Braddon The Seven Chars of Chelsea by Celia Fremilin Appointment With Yesterday by Celia Fremlin Patricia Highsmith Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  4. Aug 18

    ENCORE: Mary MacLane — I Await the Devil's Coming with Cathryn Halverson

    Send us Fan Mail We're concluding our own "Hot Girl Summer" with the writer Mary MacLane, a defiant and wildly egotistical 19-year-old resident of Butte, Montana, whose confessional diary implored the “kind devil” to deliver her from a life of bourgeois boredom. Professor Cathryn Halverson joins us to discuss MacLane’s life, angst and the reading public’s reaction to her adolescent intensity. Mentioned in this episode: I Await the Devil’s Coming/The Story of Mary MacLane by Mary MacLane (Project Gutenberg) MTV’s “My So-Called Life” Kate Chopin’s The Awakening Herbert S. Stone & Co. Marie Bashkirtseff The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff: I am the Most Interesting Woman of All Volume I and Lust for Glory Volume II Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume “Men Who Have Made Love to Me”  I, Mary MacLane by Mary MacLane Faraway Women and the Atlantic Monthly by Cathryn Halverson Maverick Autobiographies: Women Writers and the American West by Cathryn Halverson Playing House in the American West: Western Women’s Life Narratives by Cathryn Halverson Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  5. Aug 4

    ENCORE WITH UPDATE: Brigid Brophy — The King of a Rainy Country

    Send us Fan Mail If Brigid Brophy’s The King of a Rainy Country had a soundtrack, it might include the soft patter of rain on a garret window, jazz drifting from a smoky cafe, the hum of a Vespa on narrow cobblestone streets … and the obnoxious griping of a few dozen uncultured Americans! As the description suggests, Brophy’s 1956 novel has a little bit of everything  — atmosphere, nostalgia and poignancy mixed with subversive wit and madcap antics. Kim and Amy play “tour guide” examining Brophy’s life and accomplishments, including this wonderfully quirky book, recently reissued by McNally Editions. Mentioned in this episode: Pilgrimage online Reading Group with The Sitting Room library Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 116 on Dorothy Richardson Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 270 on The Sitting Room Pilgrimage by Dorothy Richardson McNally Editions The King of a Rainy Country by Brigid Brophy Marginalia article about Brigid Brophy and Iris Murdoch by Maria Popova Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 51 on Rosamond Lehmann Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 150 on Elizabeth Smart By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 184 on Elizabeth Taylor Vs. Elizabeth Taylor BBC program “Take it Or Leave It” In Transit by Brigid Brophy Hackenfeller’s Ape by Brigid Brophy The Snowball by Brigid Brophy Fifty Works of English Literature We Could Do Without by Brigid Brophy, Michael Levey and ?? The Crown Princess and Other Stories by Brigid Brophy “Spleen” by Beaudelaire Death in Venice by Thomas Mann “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  6. Jul 21

    ENCORE: Lucy Irvine — Castaway with Francesca Segal

    Send us Fan Mail Our "sweltering summer" series continues this week with a re-play of a truly wild desert-island memoir. When Lucy Irvine answered a classified ad to play Girl Friday to a real-life Robinson Crusoe on a remote tropical island, she embarked on an enthralling—and at times harrowing—year-long adventure. The result was her bestselling 1983 memoir, Castaway, a beautifully-written tale of survival. We’re diving into Irvine’s unforgettable story with special guest Francesca Segal, whose own island-centric novel, Welcome to Glorious Tuga, was recently optioned for TV by See-Saw Films. Mentioned in this episode: Castaway by Lucy Irvine The Lucy Irvine Foundation Welcome to Glorgious Tuga by Francesca Segal Runaway and Faraway by Lucy Irvine The Islander by Gerald Kingsland The Secret Life of a Schoolgirl by Rosemary Kingsland Castaway 1986 film trailer starring Amanda Donohoe and Oliver Reed Wild by Cheryl Strayed “Alone” on the History Channel See-Saw Films One is One by Lucy Irvine The Innocents by Francesca Segal Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  7. Jul 7

    ENCORE: Miles Franklin — My Brilliant Career

    Send us Fan Mail This week we're revisiting an Australian author — and the 1979 film adaptation of her work — which originally captured Kim and Amy’s fancy back in 2024. Published in 1901 and written when author Miles Franklin was only eighteen years old, My Brilliant Career became an instant classic of Australian literature and still delights readers with its feisty heroine, Sybylla Melvin, and its realistic depiction of Australian life and lingo at the turn of the 20th century. In our discussion of the novel and its film adaptation (starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill) we’ll explain why Franklin’s fear of being a literary one-hit-wonder proved unfounded, and why her name today graces one of Australia’s top annual literary prizes. Mentioned in this episode: Miles Franklin My Brilliant Career film My Brilliant Career novel Judy Davis Sam Neill Director Gillain Armstrong Oscar and Lucinda Charlotte Grey Blackwood’s publishing house Anne of Green Gables The Thorn Birds Brent of Bin Bin Up the Country by Brent of Bin Bin Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 128 on Margaret Oliphant Henry Lawson Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons Bring the Monkey by Miles Franklin My Career Goes Bung by Miles Franklin All That Swagger by Miles Franklin S.H. Prior Memorial Prize The Miles Franklin Award The Stella Prize Miles Franklin: A Short Biography by Jill Roe Of Foreign Lands and Peoples by Robert Schumann (soundtrack to film) Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

  8. Jun 23

    ENCORE: Jane White —Quarry with Helen Hughes

    Send us Fan Mail We're celebrating summer with another sultry, almost-suffocating novel from our podcast vaults, one clearly written with William Golding's Lord of the Flies in mind. When Jane White’s gripping and unsettling debut novel Quarry was first published in 1967, a review in The Scotsman called it “the most frightening novel of the year.” Joining us is White’s daughter-in-law, Dr. Helen Hughes, of the University of Surrey, who wrote the afterword to the new Boiler House Press edition of Quarry.  Mentioned in this episode: Oxford's summer Lifelong Learning seminar on Josephine Tey Quarry by Jane White Norfolk Child by Jane White The Lord of the Flies by William Golding Proxy by Jane White Beatrice, Falling by Jane White The Neglected Books page on Jane White Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit:  LostLadiesofLit.com Subscribe to our substack newsletter. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit.  Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

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About

A book podcast hosted by writing partners Amy Helmes and Kim Askew. Guests include biographers, journalists, authors, and cultural historians discussing lost classics by women writers. You can support Lost Ladies of Lit by visiting https://www.patreon.com/c/LostLadiesofLit339. 

Information

  • Creator
    Amy Helmes & Kim Askew
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    251
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Lost Ladies of Lit
  • Show Website
    Lost Ladies of Lit

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