Transcript / LoLT: Putting Names to Nature and Two New Books — 18 April 2025

This is a transcription of LoLT: Putting Names to Nature and Two New Books — 18 April 2025

[cheerful music]

Melissa: Coming up, literary romp through Renaissance Florence.

David: A crime you probably didn’t know existed.

Melissa: Plus, our Distraction of the Week. I’m Mel.

David: I’m Dave. This is The Library of Lost Time.

Melissa: The French author Laurent Binet sort of specializes in stories that take literary creative license with historical fiction. His last book, Civilizations, is an alternative world history in which the Incas conquer Europe, instead of vice versa.

Melissa: And when we did our very first Strong Sense of Place episode about Prague, I recommended his novel HHhH. That one tells the story of the assassination of Reinhard Heidrich, aka, the Butcher of Prague in 1942. The book is written like a memoir by an author who is writing a historical novel about the assassination. It’s one of my favorite books about Prague, even though the subject is super dark.

Melissa: Laurent Binet has a new book out. This time, it’s a bit cheeky and gossipy. He’s taking us to Renaissance Florence for a literary murder mystery. The story begins on New Year’s Day 1557. An artist named Jacopo da Pontormo is found dead the chapel of San Lorenzo, under the frescoes he’s been painting for 11 years. He’s taken a hammer to the head and a chisel to the heart. The Duke of Florence, Cosimo de’ Medici, orders an investigation — which winds up including a missing painting, a group of nuns who complain about not having enough wine, secret passages, and a wily detective.

Melissa: That would all sound like maybe too much except that I know how much I love Laurent Binet’s ability to put together sentences. So it all sounds delightful and intriguing to me. And there’s more! [DAVE]

Melissa: It’s an epistolary novel, so the story unfolds in letters that fly fast and furious around Italy. Some written by real historical figures, including members of the de’ Medici family, Michelangelo, and Benvenuto Cellini, a goldsmith, sculptor, and adventurer. According to the New York Times review, the letters are like set pieces with different styles and tones, including the detective’s flowery reports to the Duke, a teenager’s youthful ardor, and ‘overly pious cattiness’ from a nun.

Melissa: Finally, the chocolate sprinkles on top of the whipped cream on top of the sundae: The book opens with TWO maps, and there’s a frame narrative for the whole shebang. A preface written in the guise of a 19th-century narrator explains that the letters that comprise the book were found in an antiques shop in Tuscany. [DAVE]

Melissa: I can’t wait to go on this wild ride through Florence with Laurent Binet at the wheel. The book is Perspectives and it’s out now.

David: I’ve got a book for you today that blends historical fiction and modern-day mystery – and, unexpectedly, a deep dive … into the illegal egg trade. Like — the criminals behind museum-quality bird eggs. I didn’t know it was a thing until I found this book, and now I can’t stop thinking about it. The book is called ‘The Impossible Thing.’ It’s by Welsh author Belinda Bauer.

David: The story moves between two timelines. First, we’re on the cliffs of Yorkshire in the 1920s, where a group of people are collecting seabird eggs. They’re doing that the old-fashioned—and frankly terrifying—way: by tying ropes around their waists and rappelling down sheer rock faces to reach nests tucked into craggy cliffside ledges. During one of these trips, a young girl discovers a rare red egg. That moment, that discovery, sets off a chain of events that ripples across the decades.

David: Cut to present-day Wales. Patrick Fort – who is an endearing, compelling, neurodivergent protagonist. He’s biking home from his job as a dishwasher. He passes the home of his friend, Weird Nick — everybody calls him Weird Nick — and something feels off. Patrick goes in. He finds Weird Nick and Nick’s mother tied up. They’re the victims of a break-in. And here’s the twist: the only thing that’s missing is a carved wooden box containing a scarlet egg. Weird Nick recently tried to sell the egg on eBay, but pulled the listing when he realized it might be just a little illegal. But not before someone else noticed.

David: Patrick and Weird Nick get curious. That launches them into the shadowy world of egg collecting, an actual black market with serious stakes and a history that stretches back a hundred years. David: If you’re in the mood for a story that weaves together suspense, quirky characters, a bit of natural history, and the rumble-and-tumble life on the cliffs of Yorkshire in the 1920s, this one’s for you. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s got heart, and, by the end, you’ll never look at a bird’s nest the same way again. It just came out two weeks ago. It’s ‘The Impossible Thing’ by Belinda Bauer.

David: And now our Distraction of the Week.

David: If you’ve been listening for a while, you’re probably know that we live in Prague. And just a short walk from our apartment, there’s a park. We’ve visited that park hundreds of times. We walk there at least twice a week—usually more—and we’ve done that for the last eight years.

David: Now, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that there are trees in this park. And here’s the thing: after all these years, I’ve formed relationships with those trees.

David: That’s the one with the pink blossoms in spring. One of my favorite pictures of Mel is from under that tree. That’s the one that dropped a seed pod on me once. That’s the one where we saw that baby black squirrel.

David: And for ages, I wondered: What kind of trees are these? My tree knowledge is limited. I can identify a maple. An oak, if it has acorns. A willow. A chestnut. But beyond that? I’m just making up names. Chester Scratchybark. Woody Greenleaf. Treeonce. At one point, I even bought a book, thinking I’d bring it to the park and identify the trees myself. Very ambitious of me. Friends, I did not do that. That book still sits — mostly untouched — on my shelf.

David: But this week, everything changed. I found an app. It’s called Seek, by a company called iNaturalist. Think of it like Shazam, but for nature. Open the app, turn on your camera, point it at a plant—or a mushroom or a bug or a bird—and it tells you what you’re looking at. In seconds.

David: You get a name. A few quick facts. If you’re curious, you can dive deeper: taxonomy, natural range, rarity in your area, where other people have spotted that thing. It’s magic. Thanks to Seek, I now know that our park has Black Pines, Silver Birches, and Norway Maples. That tree with the pink blossoms? It’s a Japanese Cherry Tree. Not native to this region, by the way and the closest one to the north is north of Berlin.

David: I’ve also learned the names of the flowers: tulips, lawn daisies, sweet violets… and my favorite: snowdrop anemones. They’re very cute — little, tiny white flowers. The app even identifies birds and insects. We spotted a European firebug the other day. You don’t have to be a scientist or a hardcore nature nerd to enjoy this. You just point it and go. It does feel like it might be a gateway drug though. Also, the app doesn’t require an account, and it’s privacy-friendly. And emotionally? It does something special.

David: Now, I’m not just taking a walk: I’m meeting the world around me. I’m learning its many names. The app fosters curiosity. Attention. A little wonder. So if you enjoy wandering through the woods, or even just want to know what that weird plant in the sidewalk is—Seek might just turn your walk into a tiny adventure.

David: It’s free. It’s fun. And it’s available on iPhone and Android. This sounds like a paid ad, but it is not. Try it out. You’ll be amazed at what you’ve been walking past all this time.

Melissa: Visit strongsenseofplace.com/library for more on the books we talked about today and details about how to get your hands on that fabulously witchy and very meaningful tartan.

David: Thanks for joining us in the Libary of Lost Time. Remember to visit your local library and your independent bookstore to lose some time yourself.

Melissa: Stay curious. We’ll talk to you soon.

[cheerful music]

Top image courtesy of Carolien van Oijen/Unsplash.