The Bookshop Podcast Mary Morris On Maternal Mystery, War Shadows, And Artful Truths
In this episode, I chat with Mary Morris about her latest novel, The Red House.
A lost button at an airport. A plaque on a modest olive tree. A red monolith on a hill that once held people in limbo. My conversation with Mary Morris reveals how these small, stubborn details evolved into The Red House, a propulsive and intimate novel about a daughter following her missing mother’s trail across Italy and through the overlooked corners of World War II history.
Mary shares how speaking Italian—and loving languages—let her move beyond postcards and step inside local memory, building the kind of empathy that makes fiction feel true.
The heart of this episode beats with maternal absence and creative courage. Mary reflects on the teacher who named her a writer, the dream that pushed her to New York, and the decision to return to the sheer pleasure of story over market expectations. We chat about the joy of reading books translated into English, reading for texture, and why art—visual, poetic, and narrative—can hold what direct speech cannot. If you’re drawn to literary fiction, historical mystery, Italian settings, WWII history in southern Italy, and novels that braid love, loss, and identity, you’ll feel at home here.
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