Women at bay from NPR: Selected Shorts

Author Antonya Nelson is a vivid portraitist of the trials and triumphs of contemporary American women. Her ironically titled "Happy Hour," is the chronicle of a hectic love affair, given a subtle reading by Mia Dillon. Some mild sexual content. There were book clubs long before Oprah, and American master Edith Wharton skewers the self-important society ladies who make up this reading club, and their pompous celebrity guest, in "Xingu." The delicious reading is by multiple Emmy-winner Christina Pickles, who also had a word with us backstage at Wharton's Massachusetts home, The Mount.

Download the podcast here. See also: Xingu: And Other Stories