The Babysitter’s Club series
My parents had a rule when we were growing up: they’d always say yes to a book. I remember being in Waterstone’s Durham and randomly pulling a Babysitter’s Club of off the shelf, purely to get my dad’s attention and praise. Turns out, it was a gateway drug. Over the next few years I collected all of them, devouring the stories of these incredibly glamourous Americans who essentially ran their own little business. Couple that with starting highs school as The Spice Girls hit number one and a lot of my personality suddenly makes sense!
On Beauty, Zadie Smith
I read this when I was about 20, and it opened a secret door within me that I hadn’t known about before. Every character in this book leaps off the page – there is no such thing as a flat or incidental character, everyone is 3-D and complete. It was the first time I remember being aware of not just enjoying the story, but that the story was created by somebody, a writer, who had worked at it and used certain techniques and skills to make their point. I know every man and his dog has been inspired by Zadie, but it really is for a reason. She’s remarkable – she’s got the most smart, intelligent brain.
Heartburn, Nora Ephron
I’ve read and re-read this book, and every time I just cannot get over the self-awareness of it. It’s so funny. There’s not a line wasted. It’s no mean feat, writing a character with so much life in them, with strong opinions and questionable choices who is still utterly likeable. It’s the same for Bridget Jones. I love knowing that the novel is a roman a clef and picking out which bits are slightly less veiled retellings of actual events than others. It must only be about 50,000 words, if that, so it’s proof that not every story needs to be an opus to be impactful.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
This book taught me more about the lasting impact of slavery than anything else I’d ever read up until that point. I remember knowing that whilst the third chapter was some of the most difficult reading I’d come across it was unquestionably important. The novel branches out to illustrate the continued echoes of white supremacy alive today and so much clicked for me, then – my privilege had not allowed me to see so much, and through the gift of this story I could. It was a jumping off point for so much more interrogation into racial inequality.
Last Night, Mhairi McFarlane
I’d never read and Mhairi before this one, but offfft! What a book to get started on! Right from the first page I was sucked in to this world of banter and wholehearted friendship, and whilst I think the sort of rom-com/women’s fiction genre gets deliberately misunderstood (don’t get me started on that!) there’s no mistaking this book as an incisive, accomplished balance between hilarious and heart-breaking. That’s masterful! I read it in awe of her skill, trying to unpick how she’d done what she’d done. That’s how I know I’ve been impressed – I hold the thing up to the light desperate to learn from it!
The Lucky Escape publishing on the 10th June, is the third unmissable new novel from the bestselling author of Our Stop and The Love Square. The perfect romcom, and more: full of effortless banter; sizzling sexual tension and, above all, an overwhelming sense of hopefulness – in life as well as love.