Adoption, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Renée Vivien and Violette Leduc

Overcoming long-term illness, controlling her money and eloping to revolutionary Italy: Fiona Sampson's new biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning focuses on her as someone interested in inventing herself - not as an ailing romantic heroine. Peggy Reynolds began her academic career studying Browning's long poem Aurora Leigh. She's been reading about motherhood in literature and psychology books as preparation for adopting a child and her new book traces the pain amd pitfalls involved in navigating the adoption process. They talk to Anne McElvoy and they're joined by Jane Aitken who's publishing new English language translations of books by Renée Vivien and Violette Leduc.

Two Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Fiona Sampson is out now. You can also find her presenting series of the Essay for Radio 3 exploring her favourite fictional character Mother Courage https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p068jrch and her biography of Mary Shelley in this episode of Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m1dvh

The Wild Track by Margaret Reynolds is out now. She is also the editor of The Sappho Companion
In the Free Thinking archives you can find her discussing Mill on the Floss https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bf70 and the poetry of Sappho https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0586k6n
Sylvan Baker discusses children in care and the Verbatim Formula in this Free Thinking programme about Kindness https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j9cd
You can find a discussion of Motherhood in fiction, memoir and on the analyst's couch with Sheila Heti, Jessie Greengrass and Jacqueline Rose https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3fjvg

The Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories by Renée Vivien translated by Karla Jay and Yvonne M Klein
And Violette Leduc's Asphyxia translated by Derek Coltman are out now in English from Editions Gallic.

Producer: Robyn Read