Land by Maggie O'Farrell with Maggie O'Farrell
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I'm Sarah Pascoe. And I'm Cariad Lloyd. And we're weird about books. We love to read. We read too much. We talk too much.
About the too much that we've read.
Which is why we created the Weirdos Book Club.
A space for the lonely outsider to feel accepted and appreciated.
Each week we're joined by amazing comedian guests and writer guests to discuss some wonderfully and crucially weird books, writing, reading, reading. and just generally being a weirdo.
You don't even need to have read the books to join in. It will be a really interesting, wide-ranging conversation, and maybe you'll want to read the book afterwards.
We will share all the upcoming books we're going to be discussing on our Instagram, Sarah and Cariad's Weirdos Book Club.
Thank you for reading with us. We like reading with you.
This week's book guest is Land by Maggie O'Farrell. What's it about? Set after the Great Famine, Thomas is a mapmaker working with his son on a revised ordnance survey project. Something happens when he's in the forest, which leads to life-changing consequences.
What qualifies it for the Weirdos Book Club? Well, there's more than a bushel full of magic.
In this episode, we discuss Ireland, inappropriate sitcoms, writing, desks, geography and Moomins. And joining us this week is Maggie O'Farrell herself. Maggie O'Farrell is, of course, the author of Hamnet, which won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020. She's also the author of an incredible memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am, which was a Sunday Times bestseller. She's written amazing novels after you've gone the distance between us. The Hand That First Held Mine, which won the 2020 Costa Novel Award. She's an incredible writer. Her work has been translated into 43 languages around the world. And she also, of course, very recently co-wrote and co-produced the incredible Oscar-winning film version of her own book, Hamlet.
But she's here today to talk to us about her new book, Land. Hello, Maggie O'Farrell. We're very excited, Maggie O'Farrell. We're so excited.
Thank you so much for coming to our podcast. Thank you for having me. It's nice to be here.
Look at us both gripping. We've read all of your books.
We've read all of your books.
Okay, it's getting a bit spooky now. It's spooky.
What is the main theme of 'Land' by Maggie O'Farrell?
Spooky is our... This is spooky to meet you, having loved your writing for so long and having been now an early reader of your new book.
of land land it's so true I haven't even told I've been so well behaved I haven't even said I love this book because I've been saving it for now to say how amazing this book is I always think the first thing you should say so that author isn't sitting there worrying keep on their toes keep on their toes I'm not going to say anything maybe she doesn't like it it's just embarrassing maybe I'm going to it's going to be a hard hitting interview where I say things I don't like about it what?
but there aren't any so I can't I would sack you from the podcast I would choose Maggie over you and I've known you for 25 years well Maggie how do you feel about podcasting?
I'm a bit more nervous now.
It's quite relaxing now. No, that's it. You've got to tell me terrible things. It's such an amazing book. It's brilliant. It's so exciting. And yeah, we felt very excited to even get hold of the proof. Advanced copies. Advanced copies, yeah.
It's made all of this worthwhile our entire lives.
We've heard a thing about you.
I listened to you saying it on a podcast, which was that you write your different books on different desks. So sometimes you have more than one project. on the go yeah we talk about that a lot we want to get to the point where we have room for two different desks but I love it I love it it's compartmentalisation and actually for a brain that's having to think about more than one thing so I wanted to ask about the desk of land oh yeah okay so yes actually now I'm going to really blame us because I've actually got three desks because I'm really honest yeah
So I've got a room in the house, which is not big. I mean, the desks are not big either.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:04–2:05
2
What is the main theme of 'Land' by Maggie O'Farrell?
2:05–21:07
3
What role does geography play in the narrative of 'Land'?
21:07–21:24
4
How does Maggie O'Farrell incorporate her family history into her writing?
21:24–35:39
5
How does trauma influence the characters in 'Land'?
35:39–38:04
6
What challenges did Maggie face while researching the Great Famine?
38:04–44:34
Speakers
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