In this intimate conversation recorded at Shakespeare and Company, novelist Miriam Robinson joins Adam Biles to discuss her remarkable debut, And Notre Dame Is Burning. Together, they explore the novel’s fractured structure and the emotional aftermath of betrayal, loss, and motherhood. Robinson reflects on her protagonist Esther—a woman piecing together the wreckage of a marriage through letters and fragments—as well as on grief, storytelling, and the disorientation of time. From the shadow of Notre Dame to the uncertainty of rebuilding a life, Robinson examines how women navigate love, autonomy, and the stories they tell themselves. Touching on subjects from miscarriage and memory to patriarchy and the politics of intimacy, this conversation balances literary craft with raw honesty.