 The Female Persuasion 

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

BBC Radio 4 Extra

BBC Radio 4 FM

The Female Persuasion

Tanya Moodie

Meg Wolitzer

Jill Waters

Isobel Creed

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer: Episode 1

Episode 1

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

BBC Radio 4 - The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer, Episode 1

In 2006 in Connecticut a disturbing incident alters a young student's life.

4 Extra Debut. Greer is a shy freshman. A new friend persuades her to go to a party, and her life is changed for ever. Read by Tanya Moodie.

It is 2006, and Greer Kadetsky is a shy college student in Connecticut. 

She meets Faith Frank, a dazzlingly persuasive and charismatic activist who has been a pillar of the women's movement for decades. The meeting is made more resonant since she’s  just been the victim of a sexual assault on campus.

As Greer moves into her independent adult life, Faith is to become her mentor figure, someone she looks up to and respects, until she is forced re-evaluate.

But when Greer is persuaded to go to a party - her life is changed forever.

Meg Wolitzer’s book was written before the recent seismic shift in American politics and the advent of the #MeToo movement, but it illuminates the complexities of what it is to be a young woman coming of age in the early decades of the 21st century. 

As well as the relationship between Greer and her role model, the story explores how a young man copes with devastating loss and attempts to rebuild his life, and poses searching questions about feminism and the painful realities of love and loyalty.

Writing in The New York Times Review Of Books, Lena Dunham described how "the novel ...deserves to be placed on shelves alongside such ornate modern novels beginning in college as A Little Life, The Secret History and The Marriage Plot... But when all is said and done, Wolitzer is an infinitely capable creator of human identities that are as real as the type on this page, and her love of her characters shines more brightly than any agenda."

Read by Tanya Moodie

Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed

Producer: Jill Waters

A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2018.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Audiobooks

Podcasts

Drama

A disturbing incident alters the way a young student looks at her life.

A disturbing incident alters the whole way a young student looks at her life. Read by Tanya Moodie. Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

Episode 1

Contributors

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4