Share

cover art for Book Club Meets: Desire, hormones, and tampons, with Miranda July

Happy Place

Book Club Meets: Desire, hormones, and tampons, with Miranda July

Season 30, Ep. 7

Would you rip up your current life and reinvent yourself if you had the chance? Do you have desires you’d want to explore? Maybe there are hidden parts of yourself you’ve never had the chance to get to know? Which societal rules would you want to ignore?

 

Author Miranda July asks all these questions in October’s Happy Place Book Club novel: All Fours. She picks apart how we can fall into the monotony of every day routine instead of acknowledging the wild emotions and longings inside us.

 

In this chat, Fearne and Miranda talk about fluctuating hormones, pressures of motherhood, sexual fantasies (some of which may or may not involve tampons), and menopause as an incredibly exciting and sacred transitional period.

 

Fearne asks Miranda to help her be even more painfully unfiltered in her own writing, while Miranda exclusively reveals how she originally intended the novel to end. Plus, what about this book made Fearne say it was the ‘one of the hottest, sexiest things’ she’d ever read...?


Thank you to Canongate Books for the use of All Fours audiobook, read by Miranda July.

 

Listen to Book Club Meets: Gillian Anderson

 

Listen to Book Club Meets: Patric Gagne

 

Listen to Book Club Meets: Holly Gramazio

 

Listen to Book Club Meets: Sofie Hagen

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 1. Ant and Dec: I’d choose fatherhood over TV! Practicing gratitude and honouring growth

    55:39||Season 40, Ep. 1
    Struggling to know if you’ve achieved enough? If you’re happy enough? Worry everything you’ve built could fall apart? Even national treasures Ant and Dec don’t feel like they’ve ‘made it’.In this chat with Fearne – their first ever podcast appearance – Ant and Dec explain that nearly four decades into their careers they’re still laughing together just as much as they did at the beginning, but now they’ve got far more gratitude for each day they get to be on TV.Both Ant and Dec have children, and explore how fatherhood has changed them... and challenged them at times too. They also share why it’s so vital to have an open mind and let your worldview expand as you’re introduced to new ideas and opinions.Plus, can Fearne convince Ant and Dec to swear on air, and how do they really feel about the PJ and Duncan days...?You can listen to Hanging Out With Ant and Dec from January 22nd.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Greg JamesPaddy McGuinness Prue Leith 
  • 10. Sonia Choquette: “I’m having telepathic experiences!” Listen to your intuition

    01:01:33||Season 39, Ep. 10
    What would you do if you weren’t afraid? That’s the question spiritual teacher and intuitive guide Sonia Choquette wants you to think about.In this chat with Fearne, Sonia explains how to have more agency over your own mindset. It’s time to stop thinking the worst, and start expecting the best!Sonia talks through how neuroscience is showing that our guts, skins, and organs are all conscious entities. Once we understand this, we understand why it’s so vital not to surpress our body’s intuition.Do you have repeated physical ailments? Sonia wonders that tending to your emotional troubles could dramatically impact your physical health. Plus, laughter can put you firmly back in your physical body, so is the secret to stopping overthinking to start taking the mick out of your anxious thoughts...?Sonia’s book, Soul Mastery, is out now.Follow Sonia on Instagram.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Sonia’s first Happy Place episodeEstelle BinghamNatalie Lue
  • 9. Overthinking is my demon! Erin Doherty on changing old behaviour patterns

    45:35||Season 39, Ep. 9
    Do you constantly replay conversations, wondering if you said the wrong thing? You’re in good company; actor Erin Doherty’s biggest demon is overthinking.In this chat, Fearne and Erin explore how fearful cancel culture has made us all, as well as how to have the courage to speak your mind, even if it means being disliked.Erin has an unapologetic attitude towards ambition, and explains why she wants to see more queer characters on screen. Plus, how do you feel about long-distance relationships? Erin and her girlfriend tried it for a while...Fearne and Erin also bond over their love of the Kardashians.You can watch Erin in A Thousand Blows on Disney+ from January 9th.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Ashley Walters Naomi Watts Kate Winslet
  • 8. Book Club Meets: I could have been radicalised! ISIS brides and teen angst, with Nussaibah Younis

    40:17||Season 39, Ep. 8
    Fundamentally tells the story of Nadia, an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, so she decides to get away by accepting a UN job in Iraq.Meanwhile, Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen, and Nadia is astounded at how similar they both are: they’re feisty and opinionated, they’re from a Muslim background, and they both love a Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines...In this Book Club chat with Fearne, author Nussaibah Younis explains how she managed to write an incredibly funny book based on her own experience of creating a de-radicalisation programme... Satire and comedy, she says, is vital in examining tough topics.They also natter about how you’d react if you had to hang out with your teenage self, and why doing the job you love can sometimes mean giving up a little bit of yourself.Thank you to Weidenfeld & Nicolson for the use of the Fundamentally audiobook, narrated by Sarah Slimani.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:Book Club Meets: Elizabeth Day Book Club Meets: Elizabeth Gilbert Book Club Meets: Aisha Muharrar
  • 7. OCD, perimenopause, and hitting rock bottom: This year on Happy Place

    51:17||Season 39, Ep. 7
    Which episodes of Happy Place have stayed with you this year?Reflecting on some of the chats she’s had this year, Fearne explores her own OCD diagnosis, how she copes when she’s gripped by shame, and why her attitude towards periods has shifted.She also talks about just how powerful her friendship with Davina McCall is, and why her recent episode with Malala has prompted conversations about women’s rights with her own kids.Listen to the full episodes here:Afua HirschWill PoulterCharlie MackesyAshley WaltersDavina McCallMalala Yousafzai
  • 6. Fearne’s mates have joined the chat! Divorce, overwhelm, and festive drinking games

    44:15||Season 39, Ep. 6
    You’ve heard Fearne talking about them loads over the years... now it’s time to meet her best school mates! This episode is basically your girls’ Whatsapp chat come to life; Becky, Rebecca, Lucy, Ally, and Fran are here to talk through navigating Christmas when you’re co-parenting, sober, grieving, single, or just desperately trying to find a new place to put the bloody Elf on the Shelf.Everyone’s wearing their sequinned outfits, and like any good girls get together, there are cheeky games that elicit stories about teenage club nights, muting the school mums chat, and sliding into Craig David’s DMs… Oh, and you lot have been sending in your festive dilemmas too!
  • 5. Chloe Kelly: “I was riddled with anxiety!” My experience with hair loss and panic attacks

    43:32||Season 39, Ep. 5
    Footballer Chloe Kelly has played a huge part in the Lioness’ immense success over the last few years, but severe anxiety has meant she’s often had to put on a brave face in public.In this chat with Fearne, Chloe opens up for the first time about how emotional stress led to hair loss, and why being sick often felt like the only way to release the anxiety. She talks through the work she’s done with a psychiatrist to break this habit, and the actions her family and friends took that helped bring her out of this dark place.Fearne and Chloe also explore how taking yourself out of an environment that isn’t good for you – whether that’s a workplace, relationship, or particular location – can change your mental health.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Leah Williamson Mary Earps Sarina Wiegman
  • 4. Kate Winslet: “The media called me fat!” Why I’m embracing wrinkles and championing women

    57:38||Season 39, Ep. 4
    Grief can make you feel unnervingly vulnerable; this is how Kate Winslet reflects on losing her mum in 2017. In this chat, Fearne and Kate share their own experiences of both grieving and co-parenting at Christmas.Regularly labelled as “fat” by the media, Kate explains what effect that scrutiny had on her self-esteem, and why it’s made her even more passionate about setting an example to younger women by ageing naturally.Kate also offers advice on how to live by your own gut instinct, rather than other people’s opinions, and how to approach difficult conversations with loved ones.Having recently made her directorial debut, Kate talks through what really goes on behind the scenes on a set, the safe environment she hopes to create for her actors, and the double standards applied to men and women in the film industry.Goodbye June is in cinemas from December 12th, and on Netflix on December 24th.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Joanna Page Trinny Woodall Dr Jenna Macciochi
  • 3. Book Club Meets: “Women are survivors and scapegoats!” Rage and revenge, with Elizabeth Day

    01:12:11||Season 39, Ep. 3
    Elizabeth Day had an urgent need to say something about the way we’re living – about the power, politics, class, sexism, and discrimination that plague the world around us.She explores all of that, plus perimenopause and female rage, through the entertaining lens of her latest novel One Of Us.In this live Book Club chat with Fearne, Elizabeth talks about how she realised that – and wanted to write about – women so often being the victims, survivors, and scapegoats of male power and privilege. They also explore whether getting revenge is ever really as sweet as you hope it’ll be...Elizabeth is famously obsessed with reality TV, so how did The Real Housewives franchise inspire parts of One Of Us, and what does she make of politicians rehabilitating their careers on reality TV and gossip podcasts? Plus, how writing about motherhood in this book allowed Elizabeth to process her own feelings about not having children.If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like: Book Club Meets: Elizabeth Gilbert Book Club Meets: Aisha Muharrar Book Club Meets: Emily Henry