MY LIFE IN BOOKS
Author Wendy Holden reveals what makes her laugh and why she loves The Highway Code!
Enid Blyton was my earliest literary influence. I loved Naughty Amelia Jane. Enid is looked on less kindly these days but as a child I thought her books were wonder ful.
Another crucial childhood influence was the Coronation Souvenir of 1937 which my grandmother had. It was huge with gold cloth covers and lots of sepia photographs of the Royal Family. Their furs and crowns fascinated me and I could see they were all distinct characters: grumpy George V, thunderous-looking Queen Mar y, sphinx-like Mrs Simpson and the beautiful, bored Prince of Wales. Even then I knew I’d put them in a novel one day. But decades were to pass before I wrote The Governess.
As a teenager, Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain had a massive impact. This account of a young girl’s life derailed by the First World War is famously a feminist classic. But what spoke to me was the plight of the teenage Vera, stuck in the Edwardian nor th of England and desperate to go to Oxford. Stuck in the ’70s nor th of England and desperate to go to Cambridge, I took comfor t and courage from Vera’s iron determination in preparing for the entrance exams.
When not reading for research, I like British woman comic writers. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is a side-splitting satire about countr y life. I also love Sue Townsend’s Adrian Mole books. And the fantastic graphic novels of Posy Simmonds, especially Tamara Drewe.
Finally, The Highway Code might sound like an odd book to nominate, but it has been hugely influential on my life. I passed my driving test when I was 17 and never looked back. I adore driving because I spend so much time cooped up in a garden shed, writing. And in lockdown, any car journey now seems like even more of a treat.