Hope is Kindled
A podcast devoted to the way stories shape us, sharpen us, and sometimes… save us.
Hope is Kindled is a literary podcast that explores classic and powerful works of literature through the lens of self-discovery, moral reflection, and enduring hope. Each episode delves into a single book, essay, or story, examining its themes, characters, and psychological depth, and connects it to timeless questions about the human condition.
What makes the podcast unique is its blend of literary criticism and warmth. It uses biographical, psychological, and historical criticism, along with personal reflection and cultural commentary—including references to Doctor Who, The Muppets, and classic film.
Please let us know what you think of our episodes, if you have any ideas for future episodes or to share your experiences looking searching for hope in the literary world.
Hope is Kindled
The Last Unicorn
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In this deeply personal and unexpectedly powerful episode of Hope is Kindled, produced in my own voice, we journey into Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, a work that arrived not just as a story, but as a thunderbolt of emotion.
While listening to a remake of the song by America from the film adaptation, something struck me with overwhelming force: the book, the movie, and the lyrics together form a kind of prayer. A prayer that there is still good in the world. A prayer that beauty has not vanished. A prayer that innocence, wonder, and happiness are not extinct, even when they feel impossibly rare.
This episode explores that realization. What does it mean when the world seems unable to see beauty anymore? What does it mean to step out of the forest when you’re afraid nothing good waits beyond the trees? Through close textual examination, psychological insight, and biographical reflections on Peter S. Beagle, we examine how The Last Unicorn insists that hope is not naïve, rather that it is courageous.
We reflect on the fear that maybe nothing good is coming… and the equally powerful realization that goodness may simply be harder to see. We compare this journey to other works we’ve explored—The Odyssey, Silas Marner , and other works and discover that beauty, though wounded, is not gone.
This episode became a search. A reckoning. A tearful return.
And ultimately, a rediscovery of hope in stepping out of the forest.
Because sometimes the unicorn is not lost.
Sometimes we just need to remember how to see.
