I was thrilled to be invited back to join the Hallowe’en gang at Backlisted for their episode on Elizabeth Jane Howard’s 1969 novel Something in Disguise, alongside regular Hallowe’en guest Andrew Male. You can listen to the episode at this link.
In the episode we mined the weird and psychological seam of Elizabeth Jane Howard’s fiction, including the strange stories that she published with Robert Aickman in 1951 (We Are For the Dark). My personal favourite was Howard’s extraordinary novel Falling, published in 1999 and inspired by her own experiences with a conman. It genuinely gave me nightmares!
NB the episode is full of spoilers!!! So please read at least Something in Disguise before you dive in! (And don’t find out anything about that novel before you read it- don’t even read the blurb! You won’t regret it!)
It was a huge pleasure and privilege to contribute to this discussion. Elizabeth Jane Howard is a truly magnificent novelist and I shall be reading, and rereading, her work for years to come!
If you’d like to check out the previous episodes of Backlisted on which I was lucky enough to make an appearance, there’s the Daphne du Maurier episode and the epic Beowulf episode.
Thanks again to Andy, John, Andrew, and Nicky for a fantastic experience!
Dr Laura Varnam 