James Joyce in Dublin. Professor Anne Fogarty joins Henry in Dublin to recreate a day in the life of Leopold Bloom. They discuss Ulysses by James Joyce and visit the Martello Tower where the novel opens, Eccles Street, Davy Byrnes and the National Library. They meet Darina Gallagher, director of the James Joyce Centre, who coordinates the annual Bloomsday celebrations.   2 February 2022 is the 100th anniversary of the first book publication of Ulysses.   Penguin Modern Classics editions of...

George Orwell in Airstrip One. The writer and director Robert Icke joins Henry to explore the real-world locations in London that inspired George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Together they tour the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love and Room 101. Robert co-adapted and co-directed the award-winning 2013 stage adaptation 1984, which has played on the West End and Broadway and toured the UK, the USA and Australia.   Penguin Modern Classics editions of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George...

On the Road with Penguin Classics is a literary podcast that takes a stroll around the world's favourite books. In each episode, author Henry Eliot travels to a different literary location to explore a brilliant book in the company of remarkable readers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

George Eliot in Nuneaton. The novelist Louis de Bernières explores the landscape around Nuneaton in Warwickshire, the birthplace of George Eliot. They discuss The Mill on the Floss, visiting the Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery and the Griff House Beefeater, which was Eliot's childhood home and the inspiration for Dorlcote Mill. They also meet Adam Weaver, land agent of the Arbury Estate, the same position held by Eliot’s father.   Penguin Classics edition of The Mill on the Floss by Louis de...

Sam Selvon in Bayswater. The author and editor Susheila Nasta, Selvon’s literary executor, coasts a lime around the Water with Henry. They discuss The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon, visiting Bayswater, Hyde Park and Piccadilly Circus, and discussing the experience of Caribbean migrants in 1950s London. They meet Howard Jeffery, Chairman of the Pepperpot Centre, a community centre for older Caribbean residents in west London.   Penguin Modern Classics edition of The Lonely Londoners by Sam...

Laurence Sterne in Coxwold. The screenwriter and children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the screenplay for A Cock and Bull Story (the 2005 film adaptation of Tristram Shandy), digresses around the little village of Coxwold in North Yorkshire with Henry. They discuss Laurence Sterne’s novel and veer off on various tangents as they meander from St Michael’s Church, where Sterne was perpetual curate, to Shandy Hall, where he wrote most of Tristram Shandy. They meet the curator,...

Virginia Woolf in Westminster. The biographer Alexandra Harris, author of Romantic Moderns (2010), haunts the streets of Westminster with Henry. They discuss Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, tracing the course of the novel as it unfolds over a single day, visiting Bond Street, Regent’s Park and Tavistock Square. They also meet Edgar Jones, Professor in the History of Medicine and Psychiatry at King’s College London, a leading authority on shell shock.   Penguin Modern Classics edition of Mrs...

Geoffrey Chaucer in Kent. The poet and performer Patience Agbabi, author of Telling Tales (2014), makes a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury with Henry. They discuss The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer as they travel by train, stopping off at Dartford and Rochester, covering Chaucer’s life and times, poetry and pilgrims, including the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner. In Canterbury they meet David Herd, co-founder of Refugee Tales, an annual public walk that...

Wilkie Collins in Cumbria. The actress Olivia Vinall, star of the 2018 BBC adaptation of The Woman in White, explores the Cumbrian coastline with Henry. They discuss Wilkie Collins’s novel and visit the Ship Hotel in Allonby, where Collins stayed with Charles Dickens. They also visit Ewanrigg Hall, the inspiration for Limmeridge House, and meet Doris Riley, author of The Rise and Fall of Ewanrigg Hall, who tells them a haunting ghost story.   Penguin Classics edition of The Woman in White...

On the Road with Penguin Classics is a new literary podcast that takes a stroll around the world's favourite books. In each episode, author and editor Henry Eliot travels to a different literary location to explore a brilliant book in the company of remarkable readers.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.