MOLLY FLATT

Molly Flatt

● When does your weekend start? It’s scattered through the week! As a freelancer with a toddler, my most restful moment can sometimes be on a Tuesday night, when the kid is asleep and my husband’s playing basketball.

● Perfect night in?

Yoga; bath with a book while someone else cooks; a raucous family dinner; a brilliant film watched together; and then more book in bed.

● Perfect night out?

Going to some sort of soul-stirring performance – dance or theatre, a premiere by Christopher Wheeldon or Jez Butterworth would work well – followed by pasta and negronis with my husband, then dancing until our feet hurt.

● Ideal weekend partner?

My husband. He travels a lot, so weekends together are surprisingly rare, and when they do happen, I feel justified in expecting him to cook, change all the nappies and generally be an adoring slave.

● Favourite place to walk?

Orkney. My mum and I did some incredible walks while we were there – rainbows over the glistening heather and so on.

● Weekend you’d love to live again? The first time I went away to Annie Mckie’s cottage in the Forest of Dean to restart a draft of The Charmed Life of Alex Moore from scratch. I got to write from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep, save for eating, taking walks in the forest and reading on the balcony.

● Your dream weekend (if money were no object)?

A beautiful house in the English countryside, on an autumn day, with all the wider family and kids gambolling around. With a horse on hand for a long ride whenever I fancied. Also gin.

Molly Flatt’s debut novel The Charmed Life of Alex Moore is published by Pan Macmillan, priced £14.99.