BORROWING BOOKS GAVE US OUR START, TOO

I WRITE historical crime fiction – the award-winning Malabar House novels set in 1950s Bombay and featuring India’s first female police detective – but growing up there was little spare money for books. Libraries came to the rescue… and the occasional gift. We all know reading is the foundation for learning, but it’s also a source of inspiration, entertainment, discovery… and the cheapest way to travel the world.

Reading informs us about the people we share that world with, helping to break down barriers. My favourite childhood book was Watership Down by Richard Adams, an adventure story featuring a band of rabbits forced to leave their warren to find a new home. But it’s not only children who are empowered by reading. Consider the most famous prisoner of the 20th century. For years, Nelson Mandela was denied reading material of any kind. When the rules were relaxed he chose to learn Afrikaans – the language of his oppressors. Why? Because he understood that to defeat his enemy he must first understand them, and that could only be done through reading their literature. Give A Book puts books into the hands of those who need them most – in schools and prisons – and provides them to disadvantaged children. A single book can hook someone into reading and change their lives. That’s why I’m delighted to support the Daily Express Christmas Campaign to raise money for Give A Book. Times are hard, but anything you contribute will have an impact.

I GREW up in the Midlands with no books in the house. I was a shy, awkward child and as soon as I discovered stories I was hooked.

But, as the black sheep of the family (the reader) I was lucky that my dear mum would walk me to the local mobile library truck each week.

I’d borrow as many books as they would let me have. I owe mum so much for encouraging that.

Reading enabled me to escape for a while, to learn, to imagine; and it somehow introduced me to a language with which I could understand people.

I felt rather like an alien growing up: an outsider looking in.

Authors like Sue Townsend (the excellent Adrian Mole books), Roald Dahl (Danny, The Champion of The World, Matilda, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Fantastic Mr Fox), AA Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh), and Stephen King (Misery, Pet Sematary, IT, The Shining, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, and Needful Things) all helped me to grow in confidence.

There will always be kids like me who need stories to make it through to adulthood.

We must do whatever we can to ensure they have access to them.

That’s why I’m delighted to support the Daily Express Christmas campaign on behalf of Give A Book.