In this episode, we join Will and Balthamos as they travel through the recently flooded lands of central Siberia. As they move through a village, Will is invited for lunch with the local priest, who shares some interesting news about the next town and Will’s possible onward journey.

Join us as we get very confused about geography, we write The Gospel According to Iain and tally up Creepy Points.

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Although there are multiple small settlements called Kholodnoye, we think the village in the book could be based on this one.

If you’re intrigued or nostalgic about our random Eddie Izzard reference this week, here is the original sketch we are referring to (on the film The Great Escape), where Izzard shows off his impressive geography skills.

This is the article by Lo the Lynx on the parallels between the witches in His Dark Materials and creatures in Scadinavian folklore. Reminder: if you’ve read up to this point with us, there are not any other spoilers in this essay for His Dark Materials, but one teeny tiny spoiler for The Secret Commonwealth (it is that we hear of a very minor story which Lyra hears from someone to do with witches, but it’s not at all part of the main plot). So if you’re comfortable with that level of spoiler, read on!

Here is the paper Amy refers to on effects of alcohol in children

Here is the article that Iain references this week by Marek Oziewicz on Representations of Eastern European people in His Dark Materials, The Bartimaeus Trilogy and the Harry Potter series.

Last but not least, this is probably how subtle Amy was in her attempts to be like super stealthy Will.

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Music by: Jaymen Persaud, performed by Claire Wickes

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