What was your favourite childhood book and why?
There are so many! If I was absolutely forced to choose one it would be Stig of the Dump. I loved the combination of humour and magic and the feeling that extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people.
I grew up in Kent so the landscape in the book was very familiar to me and I spent my entire childhood thinking Stig was just around the corner and that any minute now I’d bump into him.
Which of your own books is your favourite and why?
It’s always the one that’s gone through all the self-doubt and the re-writes and the multiple edits and has finally been sent off to the printer. I always wait to get that first copy through the post with all the nervous, excited anticipation of an expectant mother. Midwinter Burning is out now!
Why do you choose to read?
For escape, for adventure, for excitement, for comfort, for reassurance, for education – all sorts of reasons. But mostly for the same reason that I write – because reading takes me right inside someone else’s head and I get to experience someone else’s life for a while.
