Meg Mason, author of SOPHIE, STANDING THERE
Sophie, Standing There is Meg Mason’s fourth published novel, out in the States just last week and already Reese Witherspoon’s October Book Club Pick. Her last novel, Sorrow and Bliss, became an international bestseller after it was published in 2020. It won the British Book Industry Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize.
She joins Marrie Stone to talk about her publication journey, her transition from journalism to fiction, and what she had to learn and unlearn. They also dissect how she expands and compresses time in a single paragraph, how she delivers backstory while maintaining forward momentum, how she gives us a deep dive into a character’s psyche with just little brush strokes of color, and how she creates tension and suspense in everyday experiences. There’s a lot for writers to study in this novel, and Meg does a deep dive into particular passages to show how it’s done.
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(Recorded on October 3, 2026)
Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
Host: Marrie Stone
Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)