Roma Agrawal and Kate Lister
A Good Read
BBC
4.2 • 848 Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
WEDLOCK: HOW GEORGIAN BRITAIN'S WORST HUSBAND MET HIS MATCH by Wendy Moore, chosen by Kate Lister GRAYSON PERRY: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG GIRL by Wendy Jones, chosen by Harriett Gilbert PLASTIC EMOTIONS by Shiromi Pinto, chosen by Roma Agrawal
Structural engineer Roma Agrawal, known for her work on buildings such as the Shard in London, and historian Kate Lister, who specialises in the history of sex, join Harriett Gilbert to share their favourite books. Kate's choice is Wedlock: How Georgian Britain's Worst Husband Met His Match by Wendy Moore, a gripping biography that tells the true story of Mary Eleanor Bowes's distrastrous marriage to Andrew Robinson Stoney, one of the wealthiest women in 18th-century Britain. Roma’s pick is Plastic Emotions by Shiromi Pinto, a novel inspired by the life of Minnette de Silva, Sri Lanka’s pioneering modernist architect, exploring love, politics and creativity in a time of upheaval. And Harriett brings Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl by Wendy Jones, a candid and colourful account of the artist’s early life and identity.
Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Eliza Lomas Join the conversation on Instagram: agoodreadbbc
Photo credit: Steve Ullathorne
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | Things just swirling around my head. |
| 0:09.6 | Am I really the product of this? |
| 0:12.1 | Astonishing secrets uncovered by at-home DNA tests. |
| 0:17.0 | Little did I know what more was to come. |
| 0:19.5 | I'm Jenny Clemen, and in the new series of The Gift, |
| 0:23.6 | we'll hear more stories emerging out of the ever-expanding global DNA database. |
| 0:28.8 | They did know that I was different. |
| 0:31.7 | You had kids together. |
| 0:33.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:33.5 | Then you met. |
| 0:34.3 | Then we met. |
| 0:35.2 | The Gift. |
| 0:36.1 | Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, we're talking about Then we met. The Gift. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.3 | Hello, we're talking about books we love, or at least books that one of us loves. |
| 0:43.3 | There's no guarantee we'll all agree. |
| 0:45.3 | Let's see. |
| 0:46.3 | With me today are first, a woman who's described her job as ensuring that buildings and bridges stand up. |
| 0:52.3 | She's structural engineer Roma Agrual, |
| 0:55.5 | best known for working on the shard in London. |
| 0:58.3 | Roma's books include the award-winning, built. |
| 1:01.6 | With her is the historian Kate Lister, |
... |
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