Show Notes
We recorded this episode a week ahead of the 2026 RJ Book Club Readers Retreat, which was held in Geelong and was as jam-packed and fun as the previous years. Rachael runs the book club and the retreats (and the podcast Reading Between Deadlines) with Anthea Hodgson, who is also from Perth and also a wonderful writer.
Anthea has a new novel, The Palace of Lost Virtue, so of course we wanted to talk to her about it - not just because it is an engrossing, often surprising historical novel based on true events, but also because Anthea is always interesting to talk to AND she’s really funny. And what does one do with an interviewee like that? Let them run, because there’s nothing an interviewer should do other than gently steer the conversation.
So we hope you enjoy meeting Anthea, if you’re unfamiliar with her and her work. And you’ll also get an update on Rachael’s joint-writing project with Mercedes Mercier, and get to listen to Sophie whingeing about how much Rachael and Anthea put her to work at the retreat. For more information about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com
For more informationabout Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.com
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More from Dear Rach & Soph
Nina Kenwood was one of the featured authors at this year’s Rachael Johns Book Club Readers Retreat in Geelong, Victoria, a few months ago, so we met her there. At the time we had not organised to talk to Nina about her new novel, People Skills, which will be released by Text Publishing on 6 October. And we hadn’t yet read the book, but ahead of recording this episode we did (and have both read the novel before it, The Wedding Forecast). As fans of Nina's writing and her storytelling, of her sense of humour and her compassion for human foibles, we had much to discuss when she joined us on the pod for this episode.
A year ago, on the podcast, we talked to Chloe Berry, who was in the process of launching a digital marketing agency for authors and also planning to become a literary agent. Chloe is in her twenties and has worked in publishing as a marketer for romance and other genre fiction. Starting her own agency was, obviously, risky - starting any business is a risk.
Listeners-slash-viewers a.k.a. liewers, you’re going to have to watch or listen to find out why, quite early on in our latest episode, Rachael says, ‘This is not a poo podcast.’ We're not giving you any hints! What we will say is that we recorded this ahead of her going to the RWA conference in Darwin, at which she taught a day-long workshop, gave the opening keynote speech and was made a lifetime member of the RWA. In short, she was an RWA rock star!
At the time of recording this episode Rachael was preparing her day-long workshop for the RWA Conference, which is happening this weekend. Sophie was meant to attend but, due to personal circumstances, had to cancel, so we aren’t seeing each other in person as planned. Yet we are together on screen and in audio in this episode, which we recorded about three weeks ago.
As has become customary, each time Rachael or Sophie releases a book, we devote an episode of the podcast to discussing it. This time it’s Sophie's turn, with The Frock Shop, which was published on 21 July 2026 (blurb below).