Prose Before Hoes

It’s the season finale and boy are we digging into what we LOVE to close off season two. Elle sings the praises of her beautiful collection of Wes Anderson books and why Fantastic Mr Fox might just be the best movie out there, and tries to guess the plot of newly revived dystopian classic I Who Have Never Known Men based on the Vintage’s re-issue cover alone. Camilla is talking about dystopia and love AGAIN because it’s basically all she reads about, digging into the comfort and wisdom of Natasha Lunn’s new book Conversations on Love. We finish off Season 2 with some good, reliable drinks and a sneaky Agony Aunt section too. We’ll be back in a few months with Season 3! Happy reading (and drinking).

This week the girls age fuelling up on bitch diesel (rosé, to the uninitiated) and talking all things lockdown inspired TV and Lorde’s hot new single. Elle asks Camilla to guess the plot to Matt Haig’s new book, The Midnight Library, and Camilla discusses the fine line between love and obsession in Lena Andersson’s novel Wilful Disregard.

This week we’ve got a spirited little Q&A for you (so many recommendations!) - thanks to everyone who sent in a good old question. Elle tries to guess the plot of Francesca Reece’s brilliant debut, Voyeur, and tries to make Camilla fully weep with a selected reading of love poems. Camilla raves about an award winning novel about cannibalism and the merits of live classical music. The girls also discuss book burning and the sweet, sweet joy of vaccination. A tasteful episode, much culture.

This week we rave about a brilliant new BBC iPlayer comedy (written by a woman!! No way!!) and contemplate how we’d handle having famous lovers (very well). Elle sings the praises of Swansong by Kerry Andrew and Camilla rambles about recipes worth living for from Ella Risbridger’s captivating food memoir Midnight Chicken. There is also a special treat in the form of the worst stanza of poetry ever written. Ever. Follow us on Instagram @prosebeforehoespodcast and Twitter @prose_hoes_pod if you fancy.

We’re back after our brief hiatus and we’re bringing the good books this week. Camilla contemplates how many cups of coffee in a day is too many, and waxes lyrical about both Megan Nolan’s debut Acts of Desperation and Kristen Arnett’s strange but brilliant exploration of a family grieving in Mostly Dead Things. Elle finally tells us when International Men’s Day is (November 19th) in her review of The Problem With Men and discusses the strange but wonderful Ayoade on Top, a book entirely about the movie ‘View from the Top’ starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Both Elle and Camilla are broken by spending their lives and money at the pub for the sake of the British economy. Camilla and Elle for Mayor!

In this accidentally space themed episode, we spend a good chunk of time being suckers to good branding and marvelling at our drink of the week, cryptically called Lunar Gin, as well as waxing lyrical about some out of this world TV and music. We also marvel at the impossibility of finding a pub booking in London as the city reopens for business. Camilla tries to guess the plot of Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down and reviews his most recent novel, Someone Like You during which we discover a bloody brilliant new line to use next time you dump someone. You're welcome. So, tune in for booze, music, terrible jokes and as per the title, Elle sings the praises of the cult classic novel by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy. Note: we'll be taking a brief mid-season hiatus now until the 9th of May.

From Azumah Nelson's tender debut, Open Water, to a series of essays about life in the kitchen, this week we're talking about the two best things in life: food and love. And Orlando Bloom. As well as some delicious books and a questionable cocktail, Elle has a confusing crush on an older lovable rogue and Camilla has ants in her pants. We discuss the relative merits of various approaches to love, the vital difference between canapés and hors d'oeuvres and the best worst clubs in Soho. What more could you possibly want? 

In this week’s episode Elle and Camilla celebrate the oncoming roaring 20s with a cocktail from the *other* roaring 20s and go in on some very sexy nerdy non-fiction, from mushrooms that can navigate the quickest route out of an IKEA to debating whether pretentiousness is always a bad thing. Elle also tries to guess the plot of the exciting debut from Eliza Clark, Boy Parts, in this week’s JBBC segment and Camilla has some hot gossip on the relative size of a monkey’s balls. Yes. You read that right.

Hello! This week Elle and Camilla are DYING to escape this reality so what better way to do that than to indulge in some fairytales - from fish sex and hunky mermen in a modern Little Mermaid and a gender swapped Repunzel, to a gothic retelling of Cinderella, this episode is an ode to our favourite childhood stories retold. Hint: it’s not always PG. We’ve also got a special cameo from JJA Harwood, author of The Shadow and The Glass, which publishes March 18th. All of the songs we mention live on our Spotify playlist - Prose Before Hoes: What We’re Listening To. Happy reading!

Welcome to Season Two! To kick off a new season we dive right in with some hot new debuts including Raven Leilani’s much hyped Luster and poet Ocean Vuong’s first novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Elle gets biblical and waxes lyrical about Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ and The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. The girls discuss a very sexy million dollar idea, Elle’s hot take on Valentine’s Day and Camilla has a bit of a floral dilemma. Follow us on Instagram @prosebeforehoespodcast and Twitter @prose_hoes_pod