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Welcome back to Reading Between Deadlines, the podcast where we read with the same chaotic energy we usually reserve for missed deadlines, burnt toast and re-reading our own bios in horror. This week continues our new format—where a guest author brings a book they adore, and we read it for the first time (sometimes very reluctantly).
Our guest this episode? The always delightful and impressively multi-hyphenate
bestselling author of Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon and creator of The Sunshine Society Substack and Sunburnt Country Music Substack.This month’s pick: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld—a book inspired by Laura Bush, drenched in domestic detail, and long enough to qualify as weight training. Was it a hit? Or did someone yell “kill” during the Kiss-Kill-Marry rating?
In this episode, we cover:
👑 What even is a “plotless novel,” and does American Wife qualify?
🥪 Can we survive one more description of a sandwich? (Asking for Anthea.)
💔 Is Charlie Blackwell a swoon-worthy presidential husband or just a charming alcoholic in a good suit?
🛏️ The ethical can of worms: how does one fictionalise the very real, still-living First Lady?
📚 Archetypes, agency, and how women shape power without always being seen.
🤯 Why the ending sparked a podcast existential crisis.
And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?
⏰ Timestamps
00:00 – Meet your hosts: Rachel Johns & Anthea Hodgson, chaos queens of literary chat
02:00 – Special guest Sophie Green and the great bio rating debate
05:00 – This week’s pick: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
06:40 – The Kiss/Kill/Marry showdown: who said what (and who changed their mind!)
10:00 – Sophie explains her fascination with first ladies, feminine archetypes, and political wives
15:00 – Anthea confesses: “I would’ve DNF’d it if it weren’t for the podcast”
20:00 – Rachel says: “It was a French kiss...but I’m not putting a ring on it”
24:00 – Charlie and Alice: toxic, tragic, or just realistically complex?
30:00 – The risk (and craft) of writing fiction about living people
36:00 – When you’re moderately famous and still have to go to Woolies
40:00 – Books about fame: Jackie, Rodham, and Monica Ali’s Untold Story
We try to keep the podcast free and fun for everyone but it does take time to produce. If you're enjoying the show, we'd be so grateful if you'd consider buying us a coffee (or a prosecco).
📚 Recommendations from Sophie Green
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
Jackie by Dawn Tripp
Untold Story by Monica Ali
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park (a childhood favourite)
👉 Listen now, subscribe, and tell us—did you swoon for American Wife?
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