WHATBOOK..? LISA JEWELL

. . .are you reading now?

SKIN DEEP by Liz Nugent, about fifty- something Cordelia Russell, who is surviving on her wits and rapidly diminishing physical charms on the Cote d’Azur.

The book opens with her returning from a wild night out, to a corpse in her apartment. It then spools back to her grim childhood in Seventies Ireland. This is Liz’s third novel and every bit as amazing as her first two.

She deserves immense fame and fortune.

. . .would you take to a desert island?

I WOULD take something I’ve not yet read as I’m not a rereader. I would love something big and heavy and eye-opening about the meaning of life, existence, politics, global economics, God, the universe and everything in between. Maybe something by Noam Chomsky.

I’d like to come back from my desert island much cleverer and better informed than I am now.

. . .first gave you the reading bug?

I’M GOING to guess it was by Enid Blyton. We were a big Enid Blyton family. I also remember, at a very young age, reading Ant And Bee books cross-legged on the floor of the children’s section in our library. They were written by Angela Banner to teach children to read, so I am sure they played a part in my love of reading.

. . .left you cold?

I TRY not to write about books I don’t like, in case the author sees it. But it’s probably safe to say I didn’t enjoy the books I studied for my English O-level (Tess Of The d’Urbervilles and Cider With Rosie) because I couldn’t bear being taught to analyse what I was reading.

I think if I’d simply read them without having constantly to break off from reading and start analysing, I’d have enjoyed them a lot more.

I also never learned to love Shakespeare.

Watching You by Lisa Jewell is published in paperback by Arrow on January 24 at £8.99