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This episode’s book:SANDWICH by Catherine Newman is what Rachael calls a quiet novel, set over one week in Cape Cod about a woman who is a) very good at making elaborate sandwiches b) is sandwiched between aging parents and newly adult children and c) has an almost perfect family (no, we’re not jealous at all).

This episode’s guest is one of our favourite people and authors, the warm and wonderful Victoria Purman. Victoria, who lives in South Australia, has the most AMAZING hair, a love of dogs (which we both share), a knack for op shopping and writes historical fiction (although there are a few gorgeous coastal romances in her backlist). Her most recent release is THE MARRIAGE TRAP.

In this episode, we cover:

Our favourite sandwiches

Perimenopause and Tall Poppy Syndrome

Empty nests and aging parents

Family holidays

How much conflict and drama do books actually need?

💋 And, of course, we rate SANDWICH: Kiss, Kill, or Marry.

📚 Books Mentioned in this Ep

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

Wreck by Catherine Newman

A Newer World by Sebastian Barry

Nancy Drew books by Carolyne Keene

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

📺 TV Show Mentioned in this Ep

Seventy Up (on SBS)

Slow Horses

Timestamps

00.0 00.0 Intro and welcome – Anthea has decided it diversify her income streams.

2.03 Victoria Purman enters with a sandwich recipe, and a top-notch bio.

3.58 Marian Keyes escapes Rachael’s clutches – again!

5.16 Sandwich – the novel! A beach holiday for middle-aged ladies – and bloody hell, we deserve it!

7.10 Victoria reads from Sandwich – Rach and Anthea hard relate.

8.54 Catherine Newman’s bio – not enough dogs. But she lives in Massachusetts, so that’s cool.

11.27 It’s official – short books are fancy (and they take less time to read, too).

14.22 Kiss, Kill, Marry. Anthea takes Sandwich to the vet. In an act of love and respect.

16.28 Victoria reflects on family, menopause, beach holidays and sandwich making.

21.06 Ratings for Sandwich – conservatives have their say on abortion…?

22.58 All the big issues – shark bites, sex acts on ladies and consent. (Anthea is mystified.)

26.20 A family that gets on wonderfully on holiday – with no diarrhea or vomiting…

30.12 The big ocean reveal. A chance for drama??? Not really. Anthea readjusts her cushion and falls asleep on the couch again.

34.09 Wreck – the sequel to Sandwich! (Even Rachael found it a bit slow) (Anthea finds that impossible to believe.)

35.50 We question Victoria about her reading habits. Is she a crier?

38.22 Nancy Drew! (think Victoria Purman, only not as cool.)

39.16 Reviews – Victoria feels judged – and loves it!

41.07 Slow Horses. (Anthea starts her Christmas shopping.)

42.43 Lessons in Hype. Rach feels vindicated!

45.38 Victoria refuses to play favourites with her novels.

48.18 International incident – Purman disparages Margaret River wine. Rach and Anthea, in an unspoken agreement, invite her to Perth so they can chuck her in the Swan River. (Which is beautiful, btw, so possibly not that much of a punishment!)

49.32 Anthea feels she hasn’t banged on enough about Dominic West – she’s wrong, and Rach considers a dose of her cat’s Prozac.

51.44 What we are reading next!

53.18 Bye!!

👉Next Ep, we’re diving into Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnimanand on Nov 28th we’ll chat The Husbands by Holly Gramazio with guest author Ali Lowe

PLEASE NOTE we won’t be recording episodes in December due to travel and this is the last season of READING BETWEEN DEADLINES for now.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit readingbetweendeadlines.substack.com