Do you have shelves of beautiful volumes over a century old just sitting on your bookshelf, waiting to be read? Have you ever wondered what fiction was like in the 19th century? Do you love to read, no matter the book?
Don’t miss The Gibson Girl Review! On this unique podcast, we discuss both famous and forgotten novels from the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1870-1920), exploring not only how fiction can reveal a great deal of historical fact, but also how entertaining—and relevant—these stories still are more than century later.
All episodes can be listened to on The Gibson Girl Review website, but the episodes below are ones that I specifically have co-hosted (from newest to oldest).
Different Is A Very Good Word
For the first time on this podcast, we are talking about a book that was written in direct response to a book we previously reviewed! Whether or not you’re a fans of Henry James’ 1878 short story Daisy Miller, you’ll want to tune in to Amy and Jacinta’s review of A Fair Barbarian, written in 1880 by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a direct response to Daisy. Plus this month’s book has connections to another story from the Gibson Girl archives, so we’re making all kinds of historic connections in this all-new episode!
Introducing A FAIR BARBARIAN
If you love The Secret Garden and A Little Princes… then this month’s all new rediscovery may come as a pleasant surprise! Amy and Jacinta take a first look at A Fair Barbarian by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published serially in 1880. But will this obscure piece of historic fiction live up to this famous author’s reputation? Tune in for a quick introduction and sample reading from this Gilded Age story, then click the link below to read along with us this month!
Scientific Motherhood
After introducing all of you to The Incubator Baby in our last episode, Amy and Jacinta return to share their thoughts on this little story first published in 1906!
Introducing THE INCUBATOR BABY
Amy and Jacinta return to the dusty, forgotten bookshelves to bring you OUR 50TH EPISODE! It’s a whole new format this season, with multiple short episodes per book, allowing all of you to read along with us before you hear what we think of each book! And with Jacinta’s very special announcement, it is an absolute no-brainer why we’re kicking off Season Five with Ellis Parker Butler’s 1906 novel, The Incubator Baby.
Christmas Isn’t Things—It’s Thoughts
Merry Christmas, old book lovers! Season Four of The Gibson Girl Review comes to a close with this charming holiday novel, This Way to Christmas by Ruth Sawyer (1916), which brings a surprising amount of international zest to the festive season.
We’re back!! After a summer full of many ups and downs, Amy and Jacinta return to the studio … and we kick things off with the rollicking 1905 romance Hearts and Masks by Harold MacGrath, illustrated by the one artist whose work is most often mislabeled as “Gibson Girls,” Harrison Fisher.
It’s the Season Three finale of The Gibson Girl Review, and we are bringing it home with jangling spurs and a rollicking BANG! Amy, Jacinta, and Amanda all gather in the studio to discuss the Godfather of the American Western genre, Owen Wister’s 1902 classic, The Virginian.
Today’s all-new episode explores Davis’ 1895 royal romance, The Princess Aline—approved by none other than Queen Victoria herself! And we already know that Amy is a fan… but what does Jacinta think of her very first Dick Davis novel? Tune in to find out.
In honor of baseball’s Opening Day, Amy and Jacinta step up to the plate with the winner of last season’s First 5 Pages Challenge, Ice-Cream Alley by Henry Albert Collins (1918), and explore all the ways this audience-selected book surprised and disappointed them.
It’s Leap Day—and the men have taken over the podcast! It’s the first-ever episode of The Gibson MAN Review, because today’s featured book, For Jacinta by Harold Bindloss (1907), definitely needed guy’s perspective to help Amy and our Jacinta understand it.
Guard your wallets and jewels, old book lovers! There’s a pickpocket sneaking into The Gibson Girl Review today… and Amy and Jacinta are utterly fascinated by her! Tune in for their review of In the Bishop’s Carriage by Miriam Michelsen, a 1903 novel that is as entertaining as it is unconventional.
Chicken-Hearted Men and Donkey-Hearted Women
Amy and Jacinta take turns praising and bashing this unusual story of a weary preacher who falls for a bloomer-wearing, bicycle-riding “New Woman,” and take a deeper look at the differences between this “New Woman” and the iconic Gibson Girl.
All We Want for Christmas Is Paul Leicester Ford
We’re preempting our regular book reviews this month to bring you a couple very special Christmas episodes! Amy and Jacinta kick off the season with two swoonworthy Christmas romances that deliver all of the holiday warm-fuzzies.
It’s the Season Two Finale of The Gibson Girl Review, and for this special Halloween episode to wrap up our Month of Mystery! theme, we’re unshelving our most famous book yet—Gaston Leroux’s 1911 classic, The Phantom of the Opera.
Amy and Jacinta thought The Crime of Hallow-e’en by Laura Jean Libbey would be a great fit for our Month of Mystery! theme… but instead, they discovered a first for the podcast—a dime novel!
Amy and Jacinta not only sing—and laugh—their hearts out in today’s episode, but they positively rave over Anthony Hope’s 1894 classic, The Prisoner of Zenda, with its cheeky comedy, swashbuckling action, thought-provoking themes, and of course, lots of swoonworthy romance!
Amy and Jacinta were swept away by Juliana Horatia Ewing’s 1877 children’s novel, Jan of the Windmill, and once you her about this beautiful little Gilded Age story…we guarantee you’ll be swept away, too!
Amy and Jacinta celebrate the Fourth of July with an all new review of America’s Daughter by Rena I. Halsey (1918), a World War I young adult novel that asks some challenging yet relevant questions about what it means to be American.
Amy and Katja return to the studio to answer Jacinta’s questions about Season One of The Gibson Girl Review! From favorite romances to most detested characters, this is a no-holds-barred, hilarious look back at our first season!
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm pt 2
Amy and Jacinta finally tackle the big question—did Lucy Maud Montgomery plagiarize this story to create Anne of Green Gables?
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Pt 1
Amy and Jacinta hold nothing back as they dive deep into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1903).
New co-host Jacinta Meredith joins Amy and Katja for a soul-searching dive into Jean Webster’s 1905 novel, THE WHEAT PRINCESS.
Forest Idylls 