Rachel Cooke: The Virago Book of Friendship

<div>In this week’s Books podcast, I am joined by Rachel Cooke, who edits the new book <em>The Virago Book of Friendship</em>. Rachel unpacks the intense, often enigmatic dynamics of female friendships in a spry and very dip-in-and-out-able anthology of writing about female friendship in an exhilaratingly wide array of forms, from high culture to low.<br><br>There are many gems to cackle over, including: an incomparably tender and exact description of Hannah Arendt by Mary McCarthy; a wonderful, worm-turning character assassination of the ghastly Susan Sontag by her former disciple, Terry Castle; and the revelation that Elizabeth Bishop and Marianne Moore were boon companions for two whole years before they stopped calling each other ‘Miss Bishop’ and ‘Miss Moore’.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/"; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="spectator.co.uk/podcasts/"; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a></p><br><p>Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk</p>

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