When Edna O’Brien published her debut novel The Country Girls in 1960, she was branded a “Jezebel” in her native Ireland—but that didn’t stop her from completing a poignant trilogy about a pair of friends coming of age in a world for which village life and convent school failed to prepare them. Despite initial backlash to her sexually frank depiction of young women’s lives and desires, O’Brien’s writing brought her acclaim and celebrity status—Vanity Fair dubbed her “the playgirl of the western world.” Novelist Edan Lepucki joins us to discuss the trilogy’s timeless appeal and the complicated-but-endearing friendship of characters Kate Brady and Baba Brennan.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Country Girls trilogy by Edna O’Brien
Edna O’Brien interview on BBC’s “World Book Club”
Time’s Mouth by Edan Lepucki
California by Edan Lepucki
Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki
Mother’s Before by Edan Lepucki
Italics Mine Substack by Edan Lepucki
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 35 on Maud Hart Lovelace
Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
Beaches film
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