Freedom, Books, Flowers & The Moon

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – The meaning of the 15th-century Voynich manuscript – a strange compendium of undecipherable signs, astrological symbols and pictures of nude bathing women – has long eluded scholars. We're joined by bibliographical sleuth Nicholas Gibbs, who appears to have discovered the manuscript's secret; to mark the double anniversary of one of America's greatest poets, Robert Lowell (1917-1977), Paul Muldoon – himself a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, and Poetry editor at the New Yorker – reads his new poem 'Robert Lowell at Castletown House'; finally, TLS Fiction editor Toby Lichtig discusses the latest releases from established writers (including John le Carré and Salman Rushdie) and debut novelists (Gabriel Tallent and Fiona Mozley)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.