The Bright Side: A Hello Sunshine Podcast

This week, we’re time traveling with Phillipa Gregory, prolific author and feminist historian (and maybe Danielle’s new bestie???). Philippa is the woman behind over 50 historical fiction novels that trace narratives across Medieval and Tudor England, including The Other Boleyn Girl, which was adapted into a film starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Her latest novel, The Boleyn Traitor, follows the infamous Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law, Jane Boleyn, through her life as a spy in the English court. And this story, as so many of Philippa Gregory’s do, brings a complicated, sometimes unlikeable, largely forgotten woman to the forefront. Because Philippa doesn’t really trust pure, pious women. She’s drawn instead to the truth – that women in from history are just as layered and diverse as we are today.
BOOKS MENTIONED:
The Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory
Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History by Philippa Gregory
Wild Acre by Philippa Gregory
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Richard III by William Shakespeare
This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England by Nandini Das
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Little Grey Rabbit by Alison Uttley
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
Ulysses by James Joyce
Mine Own Executioner by Nigel Balchin
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This week is a big one. For the first time ever, three romance royals sit down together: Beverly Jenkins, Tia Williams, and Kennedy Ryan. They talk about pioneering Black love stories when the industry didn’t make space for them, reshaping modern romance with depth and desire, and why a happily ever after is anything but predictable — it’s powerful. From writing Black female desire without apology to protecting your creative vision, this conversation is funny, honest, and deeply moving.
BOOKS MENTIONED:
Night Song by Beverly Jenkins
Iola Leroy by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Frances Harper: Poems, Prose, and Sketches – This collection features “Bury Me in a Free Land”. by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
The Perfect Find by Tia Williams
Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Through the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
Hazard and Somerset by Gregory Ashe
Ghalen by Walter Mosely
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
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This week, we’re talking to director and screenplay writer Maggie Gyllenhaal about her upcoming film, The Bride! Maggie reveals how she gave a character from the 1930s with only a few minutes of screentime a big dose of main character energy. Danielle and Maggie also discuss the unthinkable thoughts of Mary Shelley, IMAX screenings, and what it was like to narrate a 48-hour audio book. Plus, get a sneak peek of the March Reese’s Book Club Pick, Lady Tremaine.
BOOKS MENTIONED:
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Mating by Norman Rush
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This week, we’re back with the author of the February’s Reese’s Book Club pick, Philippa Malicka, and we’re diving deep into her debut novel, In Her Defense. A whirlpool of love, lies and deceit, In Her Defense raises the chilling question: If you can’t trust your own memories, what else, or who else, can you rely on? Danielle and Philippa get into process, character development, reclaiming your own agency – and how, sometimes, writing a new story can feel like falling in love.
BOOKS MENTIONED
In Her Defense by Philippa Malicka
Hamlet by Wiliam Shakespeare
The Glass Essay by Anne Carson
Stranger, Baby by Emily Berry
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbra Trapido
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Dogger by Shirley Hughes
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
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On this special live episode of Bookmarked in collaboration with Apple Books and Apple TV, we’re celebrating Laura Dave’s newest novel, The First Time I Saw Him—January’s pick from Reese’s Book Club—and the highly anticipated second season of The Last Thing He Told Me on Apple TV. Danielle Robay is joined on stage by Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner, Laura Dave, Angourie Rice, Judy Greer, and Rita Wilson for a candid, funny, and deeply thoughtful conversation about bringing the story into its next chapter.

BOOKS MENTIONED
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot
The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
JAmes by Percival Everett
Stuck Up & Stupid by Angourie Rice & Kate Rice
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