Drinks in the Library

On Beauty by Zadie Smith follows two feuding families—the liberal Belseys and the conservative Kippses—whose lives collide in a New England university town, exploring themes of race, family, politics, and love through sharp satire and witty dialogue.

Kirkus Reviews calls Marriage and Other Monuments, Virginia Pye’s recently published book, “A fascinating and audacious novel of family, marriage and a society in flux.” It is a #1 Amazon bestseller in New Southern FictionVirginia’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, Literary Hub, Publisher’s Weekly, Writer’s Digest, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She has taught writing at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, and, most recently, at GrubStreet in Boston. Virginia is Fiction Editor of the literary journal Pangyrus and serves on the board of the Women’s National Book Association, Boston Chapter.

Drink this week: The Zadie Smith - obvi! This recipe is from the book: Free the Tipple: Kickass Cocktails Inspired by Iconic Women - Check it out!

In this Episode

Marriage and Other Monuments by Virginia Pye
Style Weekly Best of Richmond 2026
Free the Tipple: Kickass Cocktails Inspired by Iconic Women
Tickets to Live Show with Meg Medina April 18th

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica is a dystopian horror novel where a virus makes all animal meat poisonous, leading to the legalization and industrialization of human cannibalism! Yes, it’s quite a story by Argentine author Bazterrica, but it also does what great horror does so well, that it makes you think about parallels in our real world, and led to an amazing conversation between myself and author Ashley Peters!

Author Ashley Peters resides in East Austin, Texas, with her partner, Danny, and their three rescue mutts—Bently, Fredrik, and Bruno. A self-declared bibliophile and lifelong storyteller, she has been crafting tales since childhood, along the way writing for various scholarships and minor publications before fully committing herself to the realm of novel creation.
When she is not writing, she can be found immersed in nature, far from the noise of the world—hiking, kayaking, savoring inventive cuisine, or enjoying a matcha latte. At home, her garden and personal library serve as sanctuaries, though she deeply appreciates the artistic and quirky spirit that defines Austin. Having traveled extensively, she credits each place and community with shaping her life in meaningful and lasting ways. While she cannot predict what lies ahead, she embraces each new chapter as an opportunity for adventure, always ready to choose a daring side quest over a mundane path.

Our drink is a very dark Blackberry Margarita, and the reason we picked it? Well, I’ll let you figure that one out 😂

Blackberry Margarita

Ingredients
2 oz silver tequila
1 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz blackberry syrup
0.5 oz grenadine
Black sugar, for rimming
Crushed ice
Fresh blackberries, for garnish

Directions
Prepare your glass. Use a lime wedge to moisten the rim of a margarita or cocktail glass. Dip the rim into a shallow plate of black sugar, rotating gently to coat evenly. Set aside.
Combine ingredients. In a cocktail shaker, add the silver tequila, fresh lime juice, blackberry syrup, and grenadine. Fill the shaker with crushed ice.
Shake thoroughly. Secure the lid and shake vigorously for 15–20 seconds, until the outside of the shaker feels frosty and the drink is well chilled.
Serve. Fill the prepared glass with fresh crushed ice. Strain the mixture into the glass.
Garnish. Add a few fresh blackberries on top. Serve immediately!

In this Episode

Tickets to my Live Interview with Award Winning Author Meg Medina at the Bon Air Book Festival
Bon Air Book Festival
Monkeypaw Productions
Thrutopian Fiction

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a sharp, witty exploration of love, class, and social expectation in Regency-era England, centered on the spirited Elizabeth Bennet and the enigmatic Mr. Darcy. As misunderstandings and first impressions give way to self-awareness, the novel reveals how pride and prejudice can obscure, and ultimately illuminate, the path to happiness.

Alexandra Potter always dreamed of becoming a writer. After graduating from the University of Liverpool with a degree in English Literature, she moved to London, where she worked for various magazines. A brief detour—sparked by redundancy—led her to travel to Sydney, where she secured a position at Vogue. It was during this time that a chance article about novelists under the age of thirty inspired her to finally take the leap and try her hand at writing a novel.
Her latest book, So I Met This Guy, is out now, and she will be embarking on a book tour in both the US and the UK Tickets Here!

Nothing pairs more with English sensibility than a cuppa tea, which Alex and I both enjoyed during our conversation across the pond!

In This Episode

Brontë Parsonage
Lizzy Bennett Diaries - web series
Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
Chawton House
Pride and Prejudice BBC
Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding

2 Years of Drinks in the Library gets a special episode!

Carrie Pruett, who did the DITL Wuthering Heights Book episode with me, and I discussed the Wuthering Heights Film by director Emerald Fennell, and it was so much fun! There are spoilers so please pause if you are waiting to see it (although the book came out in 1847 so you how mad can you be at spoilers?)

The perfect drink pairing with this book is a very dark and full bodied red wine (we tried Witching Hour Red Blend) and Raspberry Dark Chocolate (we tried Ghiridelli). This is the ONLY food drink pairing for this film, I fully expect this fact to be added to the film’s Wikipedia page!

Thank you so much to Carrie for recording with me, this was a lot of fun, who knows, maybe more film reviews are in DITL’s future!

Here are a few things Carrie mentioned in the episode:

Wuthering Heights (1939) - stars Laurence Olivier

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (1992) - stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche

Wuthering Heights (2011) - directed by Andrea Arnold (Allison Anders misquoted in episode).

This week’s book is The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow, the story of three sisters in 1893: Juiper, Agnes and Beatrice who are hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote, they must use their magic, their wits and alliances to find a way to survive. This led to such an interesting conversation about feminism, sisterhood, science, and lots of magic with this week’s guest: Angie Hilliker!

Angie Hilliker (Ph.D.) is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond where she teaches undergraduates about the amazing molecular machines in our cells. She also has a research lab where she works with these budding scientists to understand how our cells regulate mRNA, the molecular recipes cells use to make proteins. She is always curious about something, whether it’s something in the lab, in a book, exploring a hobby (including playing the flute and making pottery), or exploring something with her husband and son. When she isn’t reading science papers for work, she likes to read fantasy, historical fiction and romance novels.

In this Episode
James River Writers
University of Richmond
The Sackler Family
The Poe Museum - Richmond
Ally McBeal

The Wayward Sisters:
Herbal, floral, lightly sweet, and aromatic — like walking through a moonlit herb garden. Contains three major flavor components to represent the three sisters in the novel.
Ingredients:
2 oz Hendrick’s Midsummer Solstice Gin (Represents the youngest, but the most intense sister, James Juniper)
1 oz Bénédictine (made from 27 herbs, roots, etc.; a collaboration between a wine merchant and a chemist; represents the oldest sister Beatrice Belladonna, a scholar)
1 tsp of chai tea simple syrup (represents the middle sister, Agnes Amaranth, hard worker, steady, sometimes maternal, like a bracing cup of tea)
2 dashes of orange bitters (there is a lot of bitterness between the sisters, balances the sweetness of the simple syrup)
Orange slice (so much better than lime… this is how G&T are often served in Scotland)
Tonic water
Instructions:
To make the simple syrup, heat 1 c. water, 1 c. sugar, and 6 chai tea bags over medium. Stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat and let cool. Remove tea bags and store syrup in the fridge.
Add the Gin, Bénédictine, and chai tea simple syrup to a shaker with ice. Shake well until chilled, about 15 seconds.
Strain into a glass with ice.
Add two dashes of orange bitters and squeeze in the juice from a slice of orange and drop the slice in the glass. Swirl or stir to mix.
• 5. Top with tonic water to your preferred level and enjoy!