Facts & Fictions goes deep on Jennette McCurdy's debut novel Half His Age — and yes, it's as

uncomfortable as it sounds. Morgan gives it her lowest rating in podcast history. We discuss what

McCurdy gets right, what made us squirm, and why we think this book has a very specific audience

that isn't us. Content warnings: grooming, underage relationships, neglectful parenting.

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Pull up a blanket... we're overdue for a chat! This week Morgan and Desiree catch up on the books filling their

nightstands, react to the wildly polarized Yesteryear discourse (plus the Anne Hathaway co-writing reveal),

debate celebrity book clubs in the wake of Oprah’s sale to Amazon, and get honest about why being online feels

different lately. Plus: Indie Bookstore Day spoils, a dopamine playlist, and one very firm endorsement of Devil

Wears Prada 2. Cozy up!

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This week we're diving into THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans — the runaway debut novel that's sold over a million copies, hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, won the 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award, and is officially heading to the big screen with Jane Fonda attached to star.

Told entirely through letters and emails, the novel follows Sybil Van Antwerp — a sharp-tongued, fiercely private retired lawyer in her 70s who uses correspondence to make sense of her world. She writes to authors, neighbors, suitors, a customer service rep at a DNA testing company, her estranged daughter… and one mysterious recipient whose letters she never sends.

We're unpacking it all: why we were both skeptical of the epistolary format and how quickly the book won us over, Sybil as a complicated mother and an even more complicated woman, the DNA test storyline, the suitors (RIP Theodore's cat 💔), the gut-punch storyline with Desi and his father, the burden of grief Sybil has carried for decades, and what we hope the Jane Fonda film keeps intact.

Plus: our full fancast for the adaptation, our ratings, and a peek at the 15-ish books Sybil mentions throughout the novel — basically a built-in TBR list.

📖 Up next on the pod: HALF HIS AGE by Jennette McCurdy

⚠️ Spoiler warning: this is a full-book discussion. Read it first, then come hang.

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