27 Sept 2026
Tricia Stringers makes us read THE GIVER OF STARS
Listen above or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or if you want to SEE us in all our glory… watch at the bottom of this post. And if you LOVE the pod, please consider leaving us a review.
This episode's book: THE GIVER OF STARS (http://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/aN663b) by Jojo Moyes is an historical novel inspired by the real-life Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky. Set during the Great Depression, it follows a group of very different women who travel on horseback through the mountains to deliver books to isolated communities. It’s a story of friendship, courage, love and the power of books to change lives, which makes it the perfect choice for book people like us.
This episode’s guest is our fabulous friend, ex-librarian and bestselling author Tricia Stringer (https://www.triciastringer.com.au) whose brand new book, THE PARADISE RESORT (http://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/AgM9Gj) releases tomorrow and she’s touring the country, check out her events at the link below.
Visit Tricia's Website (https://www.triciastringer.com.au)
In this episode, we cover:
Rereading book through the lens of the modern day
The plagiarism scandal surrounding this book
Whether titles should reflect book content
What’s easier to write - historical vs contemporary
Authors cloning themselves
And lots more.
💋 And, of course, we rate THE GIVER OF STARS: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.
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📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Horton Hatches an Egg by Dr Suess
Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope
The Nurse books by Cherry Ames
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Books by Victoria Holt
Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Midwitch Cuckoos by John Wyndham
Eragon series by Christopher Paolini
Where the Wattle Blooms by Amy Andrews
The Extraordinary Life of Florence Stoker by Karen Brooks
🎧 Books Mentioned in this Ep
Unleashed - Video Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/unleashed/id1868862473)
Double A Chattery with Amanda Keller and Anita McGregor (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/double-a-chattery-with-amanda-keller-and-anita-mcgregor/id1706925792)
The Secret World of Roald Dahl - Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-secret-world-of-roald-dahl/id1868436905)
⏰ Timestamps
00.0 Welcome to RBD – Rachael and the smallest room in the house – and Tricia Stringer
2.28 Tricia and Jojo Moyes – a love story.
3.31 Anthea is keen to demonstrate her dominion over the Zoom machine with lame job titles… Tricia and Rachael discuss their work as ACTUAL librarians…
5.03 Tricia Stringer bio – ummm… are we supposed to name our husbands in our bio?? (Sorry Chris! )(Hemsworth..!)
7.17 Trish reads the Stars blurb. Olden days, books, horses and terrible weather. Anthea is going to love this – OR IS SHE?? (Yes. Of course she is.)
10.23 Jojo Moyes bio – Is 57 million even a real number?
14.13 Author scandal! Jojo v Kim – get off my horsey book mountain or I’ll see you in court!
16.14 Just checking – is the title a bit… dumb? Or is it super cool?
18.38 Rachael Johns new novel is QUEEN OF THE ROAD! No..? What is happening? Anthea gets confused and needs to take her fish oil.
21.19 Kiss, Kill, Marry – Trish hitches our horses up to a log cabin and invites us in for some moonshine. (Rach brought her own.)
25.28 The discussion goes deep into the night. We talk love and marriage, expectations, characterisation (and the need to use the long drop in the backyard.)
28.08 Tricia Stringer passes the bottle and gives her verdict.
29.38 Tricia’s chequered history pedalling sex books.. and Bennett Van Cleve. Gay? Bad at sex? In desperate need of Tricia’s sex book??
32.18 Jojo Moyes – writing contemporary and historical (which is, historically, much harder..) Tricia agrees. Game over. (or is it?)
36.23 Is the language in Giver of Stars accurate? (As an aside, if the Victorians wanted their swearing to be accurately included in modern fiction, they should have been better at it. So there.)
40.05 We ask Tricia the hard questions. Not maths, though – we’re not animals.
44.04 Tricia brings us a dangerous blend of Peter Rabbit, Lessons in Chemistry and Sparkling Cyanide. Delicious!
45.02 A touching scene in which three middle-age women try to remember things, like the names of authors…
48.16 Roald Dahl gets dark. Can we still enjoy the stories?
53.54 Tricia recommends – Amy Andrews and Karen Brooks! And we look at who’s next…
56.14 Bye!
👉 Watch now and tell us - did you love THE GIVER OF STARS?
👉Next Ep, we’re diving into The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (http://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/xJq4Gd) by Beth Brower and our October guest is Victoria Purman who is making us read Sandwich by Catherine Newman (http://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/VxzjrE)
November Books: 14th July - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (http://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/PzdXgY)28th July - The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (http://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/L0dV1Y) with guest author Ali Lowe
PLEASE NOTE we won’t be recording episodes in December due to travel.
🎽 Do you read between deadlines too? Grab the merch (https://rachaeljohns.theprintbar.com/shop/view_product/24245671/Reading-Between-Deadlines-Podcast)
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