Mrs Parsons
About this episode
Sally Bayley sketches a scene for her new novel, exploring the character of Mrs Parsons and her encounter with a mysterious figure.
‘The fate of the writer is to dwell in that realm of shadows and apparitions and half-seen thoughts…’ This week, we join Sally sketching a scene for her new novel, Mrs Parnell, in which the stern housekeeper Mrs Parsons encounters a figure on the stairs. But who is this figure? An intruder? A suitor? Or even, perhaps, a reimagining of Gabriel Conroy, from Joyce’s short story ‘The Dead’ (1914)? Listen for an immersion in Sally’s creative process, developing an image and its home in a narrative. Gabriel was previously the topic of Sally’s conversation with the producer in the last episode. Listen here. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.
More episodes of A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley
- Poppies in October Revisited
- Worm in the Bud: A Fable
- Sweeping and Editing
- On Living in Hundred Acre Wood
- River Ruminations
- The Choreography of Writing
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