Sophie Walker
To celebrate International Women’s Day (8th March), the feminist activist shares the reads that shaped her
MY FAVOURITE BOOK AS A CHILD WAS…
Elmer. When I think about the story now, I still feel the exact dismay I felt when I was three years old and reading about Elmer covering himself in grey, to be like all the other elephants and not stand out. And I still feel the same joyful glee when he reveals himself again at the end!
MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER FROM A BOOK IS…
Lady Dona St Columb from Daphne du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek. I am an impatient romantic at heart – I adore characters who cast aside proper conduct (whatever that is), take risks and strive to connect with other people. I love Dona’s adventurous spirit, her impatience with her own mistakes, her huge appetite for reckless adventure and her passion for her soulmate! As a character she charges through the pages and carries the reader with her.
THE BOOK I RELATE TO MOST IS…
I read The Farthest-away Mountain by Lynne Reid Banks when I was eight. One day, Dakin walks away from her home because the mountain called to her. To give in to that impulse, to do something that’s gripped you with its importance, struck me as the most wonderfully liberating way to live. I love the line, ‘Whether she herself was good or not, Dakin didn’t stop to think. What mattered now was to be wise and brave.’
MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE BOOK IS…
Persuasion by Jane Austen. The heroine is older and dismissed by dreadfully rigid social structures, but nonetheless manages to make her voice heard and her value seen and recognised. It’s elegant and elegiac and thrums with tension. It’s absolutely beautiful.
THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY WAS…
Beloved by Toni Morrison. The combination of the brutality of the slavery and racism described in the book (with a sort of lyrical matter-of-factness that is almost overwhelming) and the intense love, rage and terror experienced between the protagonist and her children is incredibly moving and upsetting. Reading it after the death of Morrison and in the midst of a resurgence of race hatred… well, I felt very sad.
THE BOOK THAT HAS GOT ME THROUGH A DIFFICULT TIME IS…
Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit. My copy is dog-eared from being read and re-read. When I have felt bashed about by inequalities, hyper-aggression and trolling, this book helped me find my optimism again.
Sophie Walker’s Five Rules For
Rebellion: Let’s Change The World
Ourselves (Icon Books) is out 5th March