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Agyness Deyn shares her all-time favourite reads.

Model and actress Agyness Deyn shares the books that have shaped her life

My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards

I loved Mum reading to me when I was little. I was the naughty little sister, like the girl in this book, until my brother and I got another sister when I was four. She became the mischievous one; I was a bit of a daydreamer.

East Of Eden by John Steinbeck

I’ve been trying to read the classics and the twists in this book had me throwing it at the sofa! A friend recommended it, so I was always on the phone talking to him about it. The story chronicles two families in the early 20th century. Each character embodies a different human trait and it’s fascinating to see how their lives intertwine.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jane is the oldest punk there is. Her rebelliousness and independence inspired me in my late teens – it was my first dose of feminism, even though I didn’t really know what that was then. Whenever something went wrong, my friend and I would ask, “What would Jane Eyre do?”

The Code Of The Woosters by PG Wodehouse

I love PG Wodehouse books – they’re so eccentrically English. I’ve lived in the US for 10 years, but the UK is still home and I miss this particular sense of humour. The book makes me laugh at the absurdity of that “You rang, M’lord” silliness.

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk by Legs Mcneil and Gillian Mccain

I read this book [about the punk scene in New York] when I was 15 and it instilled in me a dream to leave Manchester and explore the world. As a teenager, I listened to The Clash and the Ramones, and was quite rebellious with my clothes and hair. Punk is an attitude that helped shape my identity. It’s about being self-assured even if you’re the oddball.

Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon

I played the heroine Chris Guthrie in the film adaptation of this novel. When I first read the book, I cried my eyes out. It’s about a girl growing up in a farming family in Scotland at the start of the 20th century and the crazy events that shape her into a young woman. It’s uplifting because it helps you understand that whatever happens in your life, you can get through it.

Memories, Dreams, Reflections by CG Jung

I became obsessed with Carl Jung in my early twenties. My friend gave me this book and it changed how I looked at life – it inspired me to become more introspective. I had come from a workingclass background and was propelled into the modelling world, where I was mixing with different people, so I wanted to discover who I was in relation to it all.