May 22, 2026
Muriel Spark wrote it in months while Nixon was still in office. Fifty-two years later, Melanie and Ed test whether the joke still lands.
Spark's 90-page novella, subtitled "A Modern Morality Tale," relocates Watergate to a Benedictine convent in Cheshire. The newly elected Abbess Alexandra has bugged the grounds,...
Mar 28, 2026
Lilies of the Field is a 1963 American comedy-drama film
directed and produced by Ralph Nelson.
Praised by critics, Lilies of the Field earned five Academy Award
nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for
Skala. Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the
first Black actor to win...
Jan 18, 2026
It's book review week, Melanie and Ed discuss Prodigal Summer
(2000) by author Barbara Kingsolver.
Also, Melanie explains why it has been her best sports weekend
EVER.
More at melanieanded.substack.com or email
melanded@whothehellarewe.com
Dec 24, 2025
Our hosts seem to have hit the eggnog early as they discuss The
Shop Around the Corner, a 1940 American romantic comedy-drama film
produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch starring Margaret Sullavan,
James Stewart, Frank Morgan, and Joseph Schildkraut.
More at melanieanded.substack.com or email
melanded@whothehellarewe.com
Nov 12, 2025
Robert Mitchum’s preacher in The Night of the Hunter was
inspired by real murders that also shaped Jayne Anne Phillips’s
novel Quiet Dell.
Ed and Melanie trace the link between book and film, exploring how
truth becomes myth and how art transforms tragedy.
More at melanieanded.substack.com or...