My earliest reading memory
I have a distinct memory of sitting by the bookshelves in the first house we lived in and suddenly realising I could understand the words in lots of the books. It was like discovering I could perform magic – pulling out one book after the other and disappearing into other worlds. I bumped into a childhood friend the other day who told me she remembers being annoyed when I came for a play date at her house and the first thing I wanted to do was see if she had any books I hadn’t read.
My favourite book growing up
I loved Jill Barklem’s Brambly Hedge series as a girl. The exquisite intricacy of the pictures, their evocation of a hidden world … I’m enjoying rediscovering them with my four‑year‑old. The High Hills has a wonderful, Tolkien-esque quest element to it.
The book that changed me as a teenager
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison. I found this and the rest of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series absolutely addictive, hilarious and so good in their understanding of teenage girls, their friendships, their humour. I felt like these books really “saw” me and my friends and did so compassionately, without talking down to us.
The writer who changed my mind
Patricia Highsmith. Before I read her books, and specifically The Talented Mr Ripley and The Two Faces of January, I thought I had to like a character in order to want them to succeed. But Highsmith, in her brilliantly twisted way, puts us inside the mind of a sociopath in Ripley – we’re taken to that really uncomfortable place of rooting for a character we know we should hate. We’re desperate for him to get away with it. Or is that just me?
The book that made me want to be a writer
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. In a way it’s a book about writing: the protagonist’s father is a (failing) writer; the protagonist-narrator keeps reminding us that we’re being told a story. I loved it for its intimacy, and for its rich evocation of a family and the main character’s coming of age.
The book I reread
I could pick pretty much any Agatha Christie. I enjoyed them when I first read them (far too young!) for their puzzle element. Coming back to them as an adult, I realised how much darker some of them are: Endless Night, And Then There Were None, Crooked House and The Pale Horse are all examples. Now I come back to them as a writer to try to work out how she did it.
The book I discovered later in life
Edith Wharton’s Glimpses of the Moon. I read The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence years ago, but hadn’t come across this. When I read it recently, I remembered just how much I love her writing.
The book I am currently reading
The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy. It’s the story of five black women and their friendship over 20 years – including careers, marriages and motherhood – amid the political, economic and social upheaval of modern America. The characters and their friendship are so well realised; it’s utterly absorbing.