The book I’m currently reading

Jenny Uglow’s Mr Lear – erudite, illuminating and beautifully illustrated.

The book that changed my life

Andrew Lang’s Tales of Troy and Greece. I read it again and again when I was nine, 10, 11 – this is where I learned about story, and drama.

The book I wish I’d written

The Inheritors by William Golding: brilliantly imagined and infinitely sad.

The book that had the greatest influence on my writing

Many. But I have to cite the Beatrix Potter titles, which showed me the arresting use of language: “the dignity and repose of the tea party”; “roasted grasshopper with ladybird sauce”; “the dinner was of eight courses, not much of anything, but truly elegant”.

The last book that made me cry

William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault. An exquisitely paced tragedy.

The most underrated book

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban captures an apocalyptic post-Holocaust world in fragmented language. It was highly regarded when it was published in 1980, but is rather forgotten now.

The book I couldn’t finish

Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. One of the greatest novels of the 20th century, it is said, but I was defeated.