98: Sarah Marsh (A Sign Of Her Own)

The Worm Hole Podcast

Charlie and Sarah Marsh (A Sign Of Her Own) discuss the lesser-known aspect of Alexander Bell's work - teaching deaf children to speak - in terms of both the real history and the fictionalised character she created in order to explore the events. This includes snippets about the manufactured rivalry between the two inventors of the telephone; Bell's wife, Mabel Hubbard (who was deaf); the Deaf community in London in the late 1800s; and the way Sarah employs language - written, signed, spoken - to excellent effect.

A transcript of this episode is available on the podcast website.

Reuben Conrad's 1979 book is called Deaf School Child Wikipedia's page on Bell and Elisha Grey's rivalry

Where to find Sarah online

Twitter || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online

Website || Twitter || Instagram

Discussions

01:55 The inspiration for A Sign Of Her Own 03:27 Alexander Bell's work with deaf children, 'Visible Speech', and the reality of it all 07:08 The Deaf community in London at the time 08:13 The locations - America and London 09:21 The characters, particularly Sarah's fictional heroine, Ellen, and where bird names as surnames come into it 11:49 Talking about Mabel Hubbard, Alexander Bell's wife, who was deaf 13:24 The rivalry between Alexander Bell and Elisha Grey 15:30 The way Sarah uses different languages in her book 18:57 The romance in the book, between Ellen and Frank 20:48 Where Sarah sees Ellen going in her life beyond the book 22:34 Brief notes on what Sarah's writing now