Five or Flop: the Best (and Worst) Historical Fiction Has to Offer
Welcome to Five or Flop, a podcast for the best (and worst) historical fiction has to offer! Each week, we'll be reading and reviewing a different historical fiction book on a scale from flop to five. Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @fiveorflop_pod for all the latest updates!
Have a book you want us to read? Send us a recommendation: https://forms.gle/1JroxLkK157zpa9N8
Read along with us on StoryGraph! Join the Five or Flop: Season One Reading Challenge and track your progress: https://bit.ly/3T7z8jO
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 45 minutes
- Episodes
- 77
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
Reviewing The Handmaiden: Our Final Flop Film
For the last bonus episode before season five begins, we're watching The Handmaiden, the Korean adaptation of Fingersmith!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and worst historical fiction…
Watching The Color Purple: No Flops Here!
We're back to movies, watching the musical version of The Color Purple! Somehow, Whoopi Goldberg is still here?
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and worst historical fiction has to offe…
The Five or Flop Awards: Ranking Four Seasons of Prizewinners
Over the seasons, Grace and Erin have read a lot of award-winning novels, from the Pulitzer, to the Booker, to the... British Fantasy Award? Now, it's time to decide who deserved the honor!
Five or Fl…
Watching The Letter: The Flopverse of W. Somerset Maugham
For our first bonus episode following Season Four, we're diving back into The Letter cinematic universe and watching the Bette Davis movie! Do we recommend it? Well, that's up to interpretation.
Five …
The Color Purple by Alice Walker: Season Four Has Finished Flopping
It's the big season finale this week, and we're reading The Color Purple! We look back on the highs and lows of the season, but first we have a discussion about how classics age and what to do when a…
Jews Queers Germans by Martin Duberman: The Most Notorious Flop on the Pod
We're walking a thin genre line in today's episode - come with us as we explore Jews Queers Germans by Martin Duberman!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and worst historical fiction has…
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: Fine or Flop?
We're discussing our two favorite topics this week- pacing and plot twists- as we read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and worst historical fiction has to …
Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia: Everything’s Flop Babe
We're excited to introduce a new subgenre to the pod this week with our first mystery novel! Find out the person, place, and weapon in this week's episode on Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia.
Five or Fl…
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng: Flopping on the Veranda
We're crossing decades and oceans this week, and juggling tons of real-life historical figures: we're reading The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and w…
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: Flop Dog Stands
We're two-thirds of the way through Season 4, and this week is a big one: we're reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides! The book covers a lot of ground, we have a lot of thoughts, and the historical …
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta: Flopping in a Feminist Modern Way
Cantoras, Part 2? Grace and Erin disagree over this week's book, Under the Udala Trees, but we're excited to return to an era we previously visited in Season 2!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to …
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall: Premise Five, Practice Flop
This week, we tackle our romance pick for the season: A Lady for a Duke, a classic historical romance with an LGBTQ+ twist!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and worst historical fiction…
Cantoras by Caro de Robertis: Erin's Flight Flops Again
Erin's back from Ireland with another plane story, Grace's AC is on full blast, and we have a new book and a new era on deck: Cantoras by Caro de Robertis, set in 1970s Uruguay!
Note: Erin was correct…
Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel: How Do You Say Flop in French?
It's a special week, not only because we're reading Daughters of the Deer, but because we are joined by a special guest host: Jen! Will this episode be streamed more than Love in the Time of Cholera?…
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue: Finally Free From Flops
We're off to Ireland (and so is Erin) this week, reading The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue! Hopefully, Erin doesn't catch the Spanish flu while she's there.
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to…
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault: Alexander the Flop
This week, Erin confronts an old enemy when we read Mary Renault's The Persian Boy, the second in her Alexander the Great trilogy.
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the best and worst historical …
The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar: An Unprecedented Number of Flops in NYC
In this episode, we're headed to both Syria AND Little Syria with The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar! We hope you like birds, because there certainly are an unprecedented number of them.
Five…
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher: Camelflop
We're back this week with another audiobook and another Grace and Erin disagreement: it's Arthurian legend time, and we're reading Gwen and Art Are Not in Love!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to …
Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon: Floppy Bottom
Five or Flop is back, and with the help of a special guest, we're kicking off Reading Rainbow with Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon! Are we more excited to discuss a book set in DC, or an adaptation…
Somehow Five AND Flop: HBO's Dear America Film Adaptations
It's the final bonus episode of Season 3, and it's a special one- we're watching two half-hour long short film adaptations of So Far From Home and Cleopatra!
Five or Flop is a podcast dedicated to the…