Did A Tale of Two Cities really sell 200 million copies? Jess and Rach dig into Charles Dickens's French Revolution classic and the messy real life behind it.

Dickens conceived the book while starring in The Frozen Deep, playing a man who sacrifices himself for the woman he loves. He had just fallen for 18-year-old actress Ellen Ternan and was about to separate from his wife, Catherine. Then a rival playwright staged a suspiciously similar story, and Dickens cried plagiarism, even though he may have been the one doing the borrowing.

In this episode:

• Why Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay might be two halves of Dickens himself
• Lucie Manette, Ellen Ternan and Madame Defarge's coded knitting (plus a possible Ada Lovelace link)
• Dickens's childhood in a blacking warehouse, his magic act and Grip the raven
• The 1865 train crash he tried to keep secret
• How the famous last line ended up in The Dark Knight Rises

Plus general book trivia, would you rather, and a true or false round.

Rate, review, and drop your guess for the final puzzle in the comments.

📚 booktriviapodcast.com

Reddit: r/booktriviapodcast

Substack & Instagram: @booktriviapodcast

A pregnant wife, a cheating husband, and a cookbook that doubles as a weapon - this episode, Jess and Rach dig into Nora Ephron's Heartburn, the novel she wrote about her own very public divorce (and the ex-husband, Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein, who tried to stop it getting published).

⚠️ Spoiler warning - we're assuming you've read it.

Inside this episode:

• The real reason Carl Bernstein tried to block the book, and the deal that let it get published anyway
• The exact vinaigrette recipe hidden inside the novel, and why food does all the emotional heavy lifting
• Why Nora's mother's dying words became the family motto: "Everything is copy"
• The book's opening line, and the real dinner party (with Carl Sagan at the table) that inspired the pie scene

Plus Meryl Streep narrating the audiobook, Jack Nicholson's casting drama on the 1986 film, and the Harry Styles salad dressing scandal that proved Heartburn never really left pop culture.

Rate, review, and tell us: book ending or movie ending, which one gets it right?

📚 booktriviapodcast.com
Reddit: r/booktriviapodcast
Substack & Instagram: @booktriviapodcast

Robert Langdon, a murdered curator, and a 2,000-year-old conspiracy hiding in a painting of a woman with a suspicious smile - this episode, Jess and Rach crack open Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, the book that sold 80 million copies and earned its own official Vatican debunker.

⚠️ Spoiler warning - we're assuming you've read it.

Inside this episode:

• The real, still-unsolved CIA sculpture hidden on the US cover (plus two more Easter eggs)
• The villain whose name is a literal anagram of the authors who sued Brown for plagiarism
• The judge who hid his own secret code inside the 71-page court ruling
• The real sealed vaults under Rosslyn Chapel that nobody's opened since 1690.

Plus Dan Brown's pre-fame career as a failed pop star, his messy 2020 divorce, and the horse he allegedly named after himself.

Rate, review, and drop your guess for the final puzzle in the comments.

📚 booktriviapodcast.com

Reddit: r/booktriviapodcast

Substack & Instagram: @booktriviapodcast

Kristy Thomas needed a babysitter for her little brother, couldn't find one — and accidentally built a business empire that sold 176 million copies. This bonus episode, Jess and Rach dig into Kristy's Great Idea, the book that launched The Babysitters Club.

We cover:
📞 The Scholastic editor who noticed one obscure book kept outselling everything else — and built an entire series around a "glimmer of an idea"
✍️ Why Kristy is Ann M. Martin's favourite character despite being her total opposite — and which member Martin actually based on herself
🩺 The real reason Stacey has diabetes, and the twist years later involving Martin's own cat
🎨 The single Scholastic staffer who hand-wrote every character's "unique" handwriting — including Stacey's little heart-dotted i's
📚 Kirsten Dunst's first-ever modelling job, hiding on a Babysitters Club cover you've definitely seen
🎬 VHS specials to HBO to the 1995 film to Netflix's 100%-on-Rotten-Tomatoes reboot that still got cancelled

Plus: the John Green quote where he paraphrases Faulkner to describe his love for Stacey McGill, completely unironically.

If you're searching for:
Kristy's Great Idea podcast
The Babysitters Club Kristy's Great Idea
Baby-Sitters Club characters trivia
Ann M. Martin facts
— you've found your people.

🎙️ Book Trivia Podcast — Where Lit Lovers Come to Test Their Smarts
New episodes every three weeks | booktriviapodcast.com | r/BookTriviaPodcast

Rejected by at least 26 publishers. Banned in schools across the US. Sent into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The story behind Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 Newbery Medal winner is stranger than anything that happens on Camazotz.

This episode, Jess and Rach cover:

• The Christmas tea party that got A Wrinkle in Time published after every major publisher passed
• L'Engle's own life — the "stupid" kid whose teachers didn't believe she'd written her own prize-winning poem
• Why the planet names (Camazotz, Ixchel, Uriel) are pulled straight from real Mayan and Hebrew mythology, not invented
• The backlash from both evangelical schools and secular critics over L'Engle's unconventional Christian faith
• The 2018 Disney film's casting, its Hamilton reference, and what got cut from the book
• The NASA astronaut who read this book as a kid — and later took it into space

Book Trivia Podcast is where lit lovers come to test their smarts. New episodes every three weeks, wherever you listen.

🌐 booktriviapodcast.com💬 r/BookTriviaPodcast

How well do you really know Anne of Green Gables? In this episode, Jess and Rach dig into the surprising, sad, and downright strange stories behind L.M. Montgomery's beloved classic.

We cover:

- The real-life inspirations behind Anne, Marilla, Matthew, and Gilbert

- Montgomery's turbulent personal life — the forbidden romance, the troubled marriage, and the mental health struggles she kept hidden

- Why Anne of Green Gables became required reading in Japanese schools — and the abandoned Anne theme park in Hokkaido

- The 1985 TV miniseries that beat out 3,000 girls to cast Megan Follows — and the legal battle that followed

- The actress who loved the 1934 film so much she changed her name to Anne Shirley

- Plus: Lightning Round trivia, True or False, and Would You Rather

Whether you grew up with Anne or you're discovering Avonlea for the first time, this episode is packed with facts you won't find in any book club discussion.

🎙️ Book Trivia Podcast — Where Lit Lovers Come to Test Their Smarts

New episodes every three weeks | booktriviapodcast.com

Content note: This episode includes discussion of stillbirth and themes of depression and suicide.

Agatha Christie wrote what the Crime Writers' Association called the greatest crime novel ever written — and spent the rest of her life refusing to explain how.

In this episode, Jess and Rach dig into The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: the book that broke every unwritten rule of detective fiction, made Hercule Poirot a household name, and sparked a controversy that ran all the way to a Lord Mountbatten letter and a Victorian poisoning case from 1876.

Here's what's waiting for you:

🔍 Where the idea for the twist actually came from — and the two very different men who independently suggested it🧠 Poirot's egg-shaped head, his hatred of misshapen bread, and why Agatha herself had to personally sign off on his moustache for a 1965 film📖 How Roger Ackroyd went from a 54-part newspaper serial called "Who Killed Ackroyd?" to one of the best-selling novels in history🧳 Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance — the 11-day manhunt, the false name, and the theory Jess is backing🎭 The 1928 stage adaptation that ran for 250 performances in London… and flopped after 24 shows on Broadway

If you're searching for:

• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd trivia
• Agatha Christie podcast
• Agatha Christie trivia

— you've found your people.

New episodes every 3 weeks. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Youtube and at www.booktriviapodcast.com 📚

In this episode of the Book Trivia Podcast, we dive into The Princess Bride by William Goldman — unpacking the story, characters, and the wild behind-the-scenes facts that make this book so iconic.

This isn’t just a summary — it’s a fun, trivia-packed deep dive into one of the most loved fantasy stories of all time.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

⚔️ A full Princess Bride story breakdown (spoilers included)
🧠 The unique meta-storytelling style and narrative tricks
🎭 The truth behind “S. Morgenstern” and the fake original book
🎬 Behind-the-scenes facts from the film adaptation
😂 Wild trivia, fun facts, and ridiculous moments you probably missed

If you’re searching for:

• The Princess Bride podcast
• Princess Bride trivia
• Princess Bride summary or explained

— this episode covers it all in a fun, easy-to-listen format.