WHATBOOK..? PAULA HAWKINS

. ..are you reading now?

WOMAN No. 17 by Edan Lepucki, a deliciously evocative noir set in Hollywood. Focusing on the friendship between two women, it’s an intriguing dissection of attitudes to art, sex and motherhood, with a sinister ambiance.

...would you take to a desert island?

KATE ATKINSON’S Life After Life, in which Ursula Todd is born and re-born, sometimes living just seconds, sometimes decades. In many lives she is overcome by curiosity — by the ocean, by a violent husband. In others, she survives influenza and the Blitz. Exquisitely written and rich in detail, I could read and re-read it endlessly.

. ..first gave you the reading bug?

ROALD DAHL’S novels have stayed with me the longest. His black humour and penchant for a blood-curdling demise appealed to something in me.

. ..left you cold?

THE Mill On The Floss, but I think that has nothing to do with George Eliot. It was last on a list of lengthy Victorian novels I read — Wuthering Heights, Far From The Madding Crowd, Jane Eyre — and I couldn’t face another. I should give it another go. Into the Water, by Paula Hawkins, is published by Doubleday at £20.