WHAT BOOK..? ANTONIA FRASER

. . . are you reading now?

THE Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have been a tremendous fan of Ishiguro ever since the early Eighties; The Remains Of The Day is a masterpiece.

This i s something entrancing and unputdownable: set in some magical early Britain which is at the same time utterly mysterious and yet convincing.

. . . would you take to a desert island?

THE Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. My late husband, Harold [Pinter], could never get over the fact that I had not read it and used to pack it hopefully for me every time we went on holiday.

Out of some ridiculous pride or obstinacy, I would do anything but open it. On a desert island, I would at last get down to it. I hope he would somehow know and approve.

. . . first gave you the reading bug?

I WAS given Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall for Christmas when I was four.

After that, I never looked back: it was history for me, always history, the most exciting stories in the world. That was where I first encountered a character called Mary, Queen of Scots and imagined myself one of her childish attendants known as the Four Maries (I was the Fifth Marie).

. . . left you cold?

NO BOOK has ever left me cold. I am a very quick reader so, if I don’t like the beginning of a book, I still read it rapidly to the end and get something out of it.

My History by Antonia Fraser is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson at £20. she is appearing at the National theatre on March 12. Visit nationaltheatre.org.uk/platforms