The Irish author, 62, on escaping the news through writing, staying sober and scrolling the internet for pretty things

Which childhood book sparked your love of reading? The Shoe Shop Bears by Margaret J Baker, now sadly out of print. It was the first book I bought with my own money. I was bored by picture books and w

Welcome to the Neighbourhood by Jane Fallon

The day before we catch up with Joanna Page, she was discussing funeral plans with her husband, former Emmerdale actor James Thornton. She tells us, “I said to James yesterday, ‘I’ve already decided t

“A deluge of printed matter pours over the world”, F. R. Leavis proclaimed in his doctoral thesis of 1924. An excess of low-quality verbiage, in the view of this young literary scholar, was doing harm

A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder by Louise Candlish