I was on Radio 4 Woman’s Hour with Jilly Cooper once, talking about Melvyn Bragg and bad sex in novels (as in the bad writing of sex, not deviance). This was wonderful as RIVALS remains one of my favourite books ever. I read it when I was 19.
I bought this in a bookshop in Covent Garden when it had just come out – I was 17. I loved it then and love it now.
The first book I ever wrote, aged 25. It took me 6 months of banging away on a typewriter/PC at my parent’s kitchen table. It got me my first book deal with Harper Collins and a fabulous agent called Ali Gunn at Curtis Brown. Reading it now is like reading a diary. It is set in 1998. Remember that if you read it please.
The woman I always wanted to look like. A beauty.
Nobody I love will play me because I close down the board and play to win. I love Scrabble.
I love evenings on the sofa with my husband, watching great TV. We watched this recently and it was insanely good, and raw, and powerful. Jeremy Allen White needs to win all the awards.
I’m calling it: Nicholas Hoult should be the next James Bond. The writing is incredible. Elle Fanning is insanely good, as is Phoebe Fox, who also narrates the audiobook for Milkshakes. Huzzah.
My favourite EVER TV show. Episodes must always be rewatched in the Autumn. Martin Sheen should run the world. I want CJ’s job. Also, my enduring romantic love for Josh Lyman explains everything you need to know about me.
GOAT.
I have a few women I always wanted to be. Kathleen Turner is one of them. A brilliant actress, a true presence. She commands every room. Romancing The Stone is my favourite film to this day.