She Wrote Too is a podcast celebrating the work of female writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, with an emphasis on those who have been neglected by history. Join hosts Nicola Morgan and Caroline Rance as they unearth some fascinating literature by remarkable women.
shewrotetoo.substack.com (https://shewrotetoo.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Publisher
Celebrating the fabulous women writers that have gone before us.
After the publication of Shirley Jackson's story The Lottery in The New Yorker in June 1948, hundreds of people wrote in asking whether the account of shocking events in a New England village was based on reality. The ordinariness of human cruelty appalled some – and prompted others to ask where they could go and watch.
In this episode, we discuss Jackson’s life and work – including her complex relationships and vibrant unconventionality – and look in detail at her most famous short story. What can it tell us about what Hannah Arendt described as ‘the banality of evil’? How does it subvert Gothic tropes and invite the reader to question their own complicity in harmful traditions?
We will have to give spoilers as we can’t discuss the story without them – so if you haven’t read The Lottery, you might want to do so before listening. The full text is available online here. (https://www.scribd.com/document/236184795/The-Lottery-Full-Text)
We also mention another of Jackson’s stories, The Witch, which you can find here. (https://cpb-ca-c1.wpmucdn.com/myriverside.sd43.bc.ca/dist/5/342/files/2014/02/The-Witch-Shirley-Jackson-22gzalp.pdf)
For a superb biography, we highly recommend Ruth Franklin’s Shirley Jackson – A Rather Haunted Life (https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/shirley-jackson-a-rather-haunted-life-ruth-franklin/91920fad2d34cb4d?ean=9781631493416)(2016).
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shewrotetoo.substack.com (https://shewrotetoo.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
1 Sept 2026
Maria, or, the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
The opening of Mary Wollstonecraft’s unfinished novel Maria, or, The Wrongs of Woman, sets up a Gothic stereotype of spooky castles and supernatural entities. But these imaginary terrors are nothing to the reality experienced by her main character, Maria, who has been incarcerated in a lunatic asylum at the behest of her abusive husband.
Horror, Wollstonecraft reveals, is right here in the real world.
In this episode, we look at Wollstonecraft’s life and her use of fiction to reveal the injustice facing women from all strata of 18th-century society. We ponder whether the novel would have ended in tragedy, and we investigate why William Godwin’s loving tribute affected Wollstonecraft’s legacy so disastrously. We also agree to disagree about whether the controversial A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft is a fitting memorial.
You can find Maria, or, the Wrongs of Woman (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134) (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/134)available to read free of charge at Project Gutenberg.
Get your copy of 📖 She Wrote Too: Women whose words changed the world (https://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Wrote-Too-Women-changed/dp/1919253807/)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shewrotetoo.substack.com (https://shewrotetoo.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
1 Aug 2026
The Mortal Immortal and Transformation by Mary Shelley
Last time on She Wrote Too, we talked about Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Frankenstein (https://shewrotetoo.substack.com/p/frankenstein-by-mary-shelley) – but there is much more to her writing than the novel that made her famous. In the second of our two episodes about Mary Shelley, we look at a couple of her shorter Gothic works: The Mortal Immortal and Transformation.
Both stories take us into strange and supernatural territory, but behind the Gothic themes, Mary Shelley explores some thoughtful questions about what it means to be human.
You can find both titles in Tales and Stories (1891) (https://archive.org/details/storiesmary00shelrich/page/n12/mode/1up), which is freely available on the Internet Archive. (https://archive.org/details/storiesmary00shelrich/page/n12/mode/1up)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shewrotetoo.substack.com (https://shewrotetoo.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 40 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
55
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
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