So you want to start reading the classics?

Walking in Agatha's Christie's Footsteps: A Literary Tour of the English Riviera - An Interview our Tour Guides

She sold two billion books. She's been translated into over a hundred languages. She has a Russian rock band named after her. And yet — she always said that within ten years of her death, no one would remember her at all.  In this episode, I sit down with Graham Kerr and Maria ("Miss Lemon") of English Riviera Walking Tours and English Riviera Custom Tours in Torquay, Devon — two of the most passionate, knowledgeable, and downright delightful Agatha Christie guides on the planet.  Graham and Maria bring Christie's story to life along the English Riviera coastline, Our group had the privilege of touring with them in October, and this conversation was every bit as magical as that day. We talk about Christie's extraordinary life. We dig into each location associated with Christie and chat about what it means to walk in the footsteps of the world's greatest mystery writer.  What You'll Learn in This Episode: * Why Agatha's mother's impulsive decision to buy a house in Devon changed literary history forever * The truth about the 1926 disappearance  * How Agatha became the first European woman to stand up on a surfboard in Hawaii. * Why she used poison more than any other writer and where she learned about it * The love story behind her second marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan, and how a daughter was won over with toffee lollipops * The Christie renaissance happening right now 📚 Books Mentioned in This Episode The Christie Novels — start here: * And Then There Were None [https://amzn.to/4v71Yk4] — Agatha Christie (read before visiting Burgh Island — trust us) * Dead Man's Folly [https://amzn.to/4wSFJjA] — Agatha Christie (read before visiting Greenway House — Maria's top pick) * The Murder of Roger Ackroyd [https://amzn.to/4e7XkfS] — Agatha Christie (the book that made Christie the best in the world) * The ABC Murders [https://amzn.to/4e5mHip] — Agatha Christie (Graham's personal favorite — you won't guess the ending) * Evil Under the Sun [https://amzn.to/4dHhGve] — Agatha Christie (set on Burgh Island / "Smuggler's Island") * Murder on the Orient Express [https://amzn.to/3PIkcJK] — Agatha Christie (inspired by her Middle East travels with Max) * Death on the Nile [https://www.amazon.com/Death-Nile-Hercule-Poirot/dp/0062073583] — Agatha Christie (and stay tuned — I have an announcement about Egypt...) * Murder in Mesopotamia [https://amzn.to/4e4nr7w] — Agatha Christie (born from her digs in the Middle East with Max) * The Man in the Brown Suit [https://amzn.to/4wPrMCS] — Agatha Christie (linked to the archaeological digs at Kent's Cavern in Torquay) * The Mystery of the Blue Train [https://amzn.to/49qmbci] — Agatha Christie (one of the two books written in the shadow of her 1926 disappearance) The Christie Plays: * The Mousetrap [https://amzn.to/4fafoaq] — Agatha Christie (74 years. 30,000 performances. Still running.) * Witness for the Prosecution [https://amzn.to/4dQlbj6] — Agatha Christie (Christie's own favorite — go see it in London before you see The Mousetrap) * Towards Zero [https://amzn.to/3PLoX55] — Agatha Christie (posters just went up in Torquay as we recorded this!) Christie's Own Words: * An Autobiography [https://amzn.to/4wOBXrq] — Agatha Christie (600 pages — notably missing any mention of 1926) The Best Place to Start If You're New to Christie: * Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman [https://amzn.to/4f9uyN9] — Lucy Worsley (the biography that Graham, Maria, and your host all recommend without hesitation) 🗺️ Ready to Walk in Agatha's Footsteps? Graham and Maria are two of the most extraordinary guides you will ever have the pleasure of following down a coastal path. Whether you book a walking tour with Graham, a bespoke chapter tour with Maria, or — as our Book Club Tour group did — both, you are in for an unforgettable day. Find Graham at englishrivierawalkingtours.co.uk [https://www.englishrivierawalkingtours.co.uk/] and Maria at englishrivieracustomtours.co.uk [https://www.englishrivieracustomtours.co.uk/]. And if you're dreaming of your own literary tour — from the English Riviera to the Scottish Highlands to the fields of Provence to the streets of Jane Austen's Bath — come find us at thebookclubtour.com [https://www.thebookclubtour.com/]. A very exciting Egypt announcement is coming soon. 👀 Love this podcast? Imagine walking the Yorkshire moors where the Brontës found inspiration, visiting Jane Austen's writing desk at Chawton, and exploring Shakespeare's birthplace with fellow book lovers. We do all this and more on The Book Club Tour! Follow along with our adventures, or join us!  🌐 Explore our tours: thebookclubtour.com [https://thebookclubtour.com/] 📸 Instagram: @thebookclubtour [https://www.instagram.com/thebookclubtour] 👥 Facebook: @thebookclubtour [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550498828175]

So you want to start reading the classics?

Do you have a classic sitting on your shelf that's been there for two years? Maybe someone gifted you Jane Austen, or you picked up a Brontë at a charity shop with the best intentions. And every time you walk past it, there's a little whisper that says: I should really read that. This episode is for you. In this week's episode of The Brit Lit Book Club, I'm making the case for why British classics still matter — and more importantly, giving you everything you need to actually get into them. No English degree, no prior reading experience, no guilt required. IN THIS EPISODE * The case for classics: why every modern story you love is already in conversation with them * Myth-busting: slow, boring, too hard, missed your chance — we address every excuse * Your personality-based guide: which classic is right for YOU * Practical strategies: annotated editions, audiobooks, reading companions, and when to quit * The re-read phenomenon: why classics reward you differently at different life stages * The Brit Lit Starter Pack: five books, in order of accessibility BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE *Disclosure: Links below are Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — which helps keep The Brit Lit Book Club running. Thank you! The Starter Pack — My Five Recommended Entry Points 1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The perfect warm-up. Short, emotional, funny, and full of Dickens at his most generous and human. Read it in an afternoon. ➜ Penguin Classics (Paperback, with other Christmas writings) → [https://amzn.to/4djrP2i] ➜ Penguin Christmas Classics (Hardcover gift edition) → [https://amzn.to/4nOI4rF] 2. Persuasion by Jane Austen Her shortest, quietest, most moving novel — and my personal favourite. A love story about second chances with one of the most beautiful letters in all of literature. ➜ Penguin Classics (Paperback) → [https://amzn.to/4nFe2ql] 3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins A proper Victorian thriller — multiple narrators, a sinister count, and a mystery that keeps you guessing. Highly readable and genuinely gripping. ➜ Penguin Classics (Paperback) → [https://amzn.to/4dkUILx] 4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë One of the great feminist novels — a heroine who refuses to compromise herself for anyone. Still radical more than 175 years later. ➜ Penguin Classics (Paperback) → [https://amzn.to/4dwVxQa] 5. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy Hardy's most accessible and most beautiful novel. The Dorset countryside practically breathes on the page. Start here and you'll want to read everything he wrote. ➜ Penguin Classics (Paperback) → [https://amzn.to/4fvF9BV] Also Mentioned in This Episode Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/4tQaT8D] Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/4nY7wv7] The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/3PyzFMb] The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/42LMp5d] Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/4uYVrIi] Waverley by Sir Walter Scott — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/4tK1L5a] A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/42JLx1a] A Christmas Carol (also mentioned above) — Amazon → [https://amzn.to/3RzKcaB] Love this podcast? Imagine walking the Yorkshire moors where the Brontës found inspiration, visiting Jane Austen's writing desk at Chawton, and exploring Shakespeare's birthplace with fellow book lovers. We do all this and more on The Book Club Tour! Follow along with our adventures, or join us!  🌐 Explore our tours: thebookclubtour.com [https://thebookclubtour.com/] 📸 Instagram: @thebookclubtour [https://www.instagram.com/thebookclubtour] 👥 Facebook: @thebookclubtour [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550498828175]

Agatha Christie - The Queen of Crime

She sold over two billion books. Her play The Mousetrap has run in London's West End for more than seventy years without a single break. And she once vanished for eleven days in a mystery that has never been solved. Dame Agatha Christie wasn't just writing cozy puzzles — she was a brilliant psychologist, a sharp social observer, and quite possibly the most commercially successful novelist who ever lived. In this episode of The Brit Lit Book Club, we're diving deep into the life and legacy of the undisputed Queen of Crime. Host Vanessa Hunt takes you behind the stories — from Christie's childhood in the elegant seaside town of Torquay to the heartbreak of 1926 (the year her mother died, her husband confessed to an affair, and she mysteriously disappeared), to her unexpectedly happy second act with archaeologist husband Max Mallowan in the deserts of Iraq and Syria. We visit Greenway House, Christie's beloved Georgian manor on the River Dart. We ride the sea tractor to Burgh Island — the Art Deco island that inspired And Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun. We swim in the cove. We eat the lobster. We also explore what makes her two great detectives — the methodical Hercule Poirot and the deceptively sharp Miss Marple — so enduringly brilliant, and why Christie's "genre fiction" has outlasted nearly every literary prize winner of her era. Whether you're a lifelong Christie devotee or you've never cracked a mystery novel in your life, this episode will send you straight to your bookshelf. In this episode: * The girl who taught herself to read at four (against her mother's wishes) * What working as a WWI nurse taught her about poison — and fiction * The 1926 disappearance: fugue state, breakdown, or something more calculated? * The Golden Age of Detective Fiction and why Christie broke every rule * Burgh Island, the sea tractor, and Christie's most audacious novel * Why two billion readers can't put her down — and why you won't either 📚 Books Mentioned in This Episode Start here if you're new to Christie: * And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie [https://amzn.to/4w5GSEc] — Ten strangers. A sinister nursery rhyme. No way off the island. Her most Gothic, most audacious, most chilling novel. * Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie [https://amzn.to/48yeroh] — A snowbound train, a dead man, and every passenger a suspect. One of the most shocking endings in all of detective fiction. * Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie [https://amzn.to/3OXcbjz] — Set directly on Burgh Island. You can trace the action across the actual landscape. More Christie classics: * The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie [https://amzn.to/4ejRnNz] — The plot twist that shocked the literary world in 1926 and still lands nearly a century later. * Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie [https://amzn.to/4cIYXAk] — Set at a house just like Greenway, with a boathouse murder that will feel very familiar if you've visited. * Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie [https://amzn.to/4df9nrp] — Inspired by real people Christie m Love this podcast? Imagine walking the Yorkshire moors where the Brontës found inspiration, visiting Jane Austen's writing desk at Chawton, and exploring Shakespeare's birthplace with fellow book lovers. We do all this and more on The Book Club Tour! Follow along with our adventures, or join us!  🌐 Explore our tours: thebookclubtour.com [https://thebookclubtour.com/] 📸 Instagram: @thebookclubtour [https://www.instagram.com/thebookclubtour] 👥 Facebook: @thebookclubtour [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550498828175]

J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan: The Boy Who Never Grew Up

What if the most beloved children's story in the English language was actually about grief? In this episode of The Brit Lit Book Club, we're exploring the extraordinary life of Scottish author J.M. Barrie — the man behind Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Neverland, and Captain Hook — and the devastating true story that inspired one of literature's most enduring characters. We cover it all: the childhood tragedy that shaped Barrie's imagination, the real-life family of five brothers who became the Lost Boys, the dark fate of the Llewelyn Davies boys, and why Peter Pan — for all its magic and adventure — is really a story about the cost of never growing up. Plus my kids are currently in a production of the musical, which means this episode has been living in my house for weeks. And that, as always, is exactly how the best rabbit holes begin. In this episode: * Who was J.M. Barrie and why did he spend his childhood trying to become his dead brother * The five real boys who inspired the Lost Boys — and what became of them * Why Peter Pan is one of the saddest characters in British literature * The Kensington Gardens statue that still has flowers left at its base * The Scottish literary tradition that shaped Barrie's imagination — and why it matters * Why Barrie left the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children This week's tea pairing: Fairy Dust tea from Bird and Blend  [https://www.birdandblendtea.us/blogs/recipes/blogs-recipes-sprinkle-fairy-dust-cocktail-recipe?_pos=1&_sid=f0dd6126e&_ss=r] 📚 Reading List & Resources: Peter and Wendy  [https://amzlink.to/az0wxHDGNx9CT]by J.M. Barrie (the 1911 novel — not the play, not the Disney version, the real one) →  J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys: The Real Story Behind Peter Pan [https://amzlink.to/az0wxHDGNx9CT] by Andrew Birkin — the definitive biography, written with access to letters, diaries, and recorded interviews with the family. If this episode moves you, read this next.  Love this podcast? Imagine walking the Yorkshire moors where the Brontës found inspiration, visiting Jane Austen's writing desk at Chawton, and exploring Shakespeare's birthplace with fellow book lovers. We do all this and more on The Book Club Tour! Follow along with our adventures, or join us!  🌐 Explore our tours: thebookclubtour.com [https://thebookclubtour.com/] 📸 Instagram: @thebookclubtour [https://www.instagram.com/thebookclubtour] 👥 Facebook: @thebookclubtour [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550498828175]

Interview with Alex Dold, Dr. of Outlander

What does it mean to fall through time and land in history class? If you've ever stayed up until 2am turning pages of Outlander, convinced you could practically smell the heather and hear the clash of broadswords at Culloden, today's guest has a very official explanation for why that happened — and a doctorate to back it up. Dr. Alex Dold is a public historian, literary scholar, tour guide, and "Doctor of Outlander." Based in Scotland, Alex completed her PhD at the University of the Highlands and Islands with a thesis arguing that Diana Gabaldon's Outlander novels function as a genuine form of public history — shaping how millions of readers around the world understand 18th-century Scotland, the Jacobite rising of 1745, and Highland culture. She also contributed two chapters to the newly released academic collection Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts (Luath Press, 2025), leads literary walking tours in Glasgow, and speaks at fan conventions and universities alike. In this episode, Vanessa and Alex talk about: * How a reader in Germany became Scotland's foremost Outlander scholar * What "public history" means — and why it matters that Outlander qualifies * The real-world impact Outlander tourism has had on Scottish heritage sites * What Alex told Diana Gabaldon when she finally met her in person * And why you should never, ever be embarrassed that a romance novel sent you down a Scottish history rabbit hole Whether you've read all nine books, just finished the series, or you're a Scotland-dreamer planning your own literary pilgrimage, this episode will make you love the Highlands even more. 📚 Books mentioned in this episode: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts  [https://amzn.to/4e6VYTi] — Alex's own book! The academic collection she contributed two chapters to. A must-have for any serious Outlander fan. ⚔️ Damn Rebel Bitches: The Women of '45  by Maggie Craig [https://amzn.to/4cId9It] — The real women of the Jacobite rising of 1745. If Claire Fraser makes you want more, this is your book. ✉️ Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland by Edward Burt [https://amzn.to/4eFtK27] — A fascinating firsthand account of 18th-century Highland life from an English officer stationed in Scotland. Primary source gold for Outlander readers. ⏳ Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor [https://amzn.to/4ua24qM] — If you love the idea of time-traveling historians getting into trouble, this series is your next obsession. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Ready to walk in Jamie and Claire's footsteps? Join us on the Scottish Book Club Tour, June 22–29, 2027 — a small-group literary journey through the Highlands with your fellow book lovers. Visit thebookclubtour.com [https://thebookclubtour.com/] to learn more and reserve your spot. Connect with Alex: 🌐 alexdold.com [https://alexdold.com/] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alex.dold.historian Love this podcast? Imagine walking the Yorkshire moors where the Brontës found inspiration, visiting Jane Austen's writing desk at Chawton, and exploring Shakespeare's birthplace with fellow book lovers. We do all this and more on The Book Club Tour! Follow along with our adventures, or join us!  🌐 Explore our tours: thebookclubtour.com [https://thebookclubtour.com/] 📸 Instagram: @thebookclubtour [https://www.instagram.com/thebookclubtour] 👥 Facebook: @thebookclubtour [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550498828175]