# Mrs Parsons Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/mrs-parsons Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/mrs-parsons.md Podcast: [A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley](https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400) Published: 2025-09-13T07:46:27+00:00 Episode link: https://readinglifewritinglife.podbean.com/e/mrs-parson/ Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/dbsdypc8zwap6h87/JB_Draft_16li0f.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/episodes/mrs-parsons Duration seconds: 921 ## Resource ‘The fate of the writer is to dwell in that realm of shadows and apparitions and half-seen thoughts…’ This week, we join Sally sketching a scene for her new novel, Mrs Parnell, in which the stern housekeeper Mrs Parsons encounters a figure on the stairs. But who is this figure? An intruder? A suitor? Or even, perhaps, a reimagining of Gabriel Conroy, from Joyce’s short story ‘The Dead’ (1914)? Listen for an immersion in Sally’s creative process, developing an image and its home in a narrative. Gabriel was previously the topic of Sally’s conversation with the producer in the last episode. Listen here. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/episodes/mrs-parsons/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/mrs-parsons.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.