Cosy chat with heidi swain

Your books feel like a welcome escape from everyday worries. How much do you think about offering comfort and reassurance as you write? Thank you for the compliment! When I start writing something new

Judy Blume’s Superfudge was in our tiny school library, and I wolfed it down at the age of eight. From then, I was side-by-side with all of Judy’s kids, right the way up to 17-year-old Katherine in Fo

Jane Fallon, the award-winning TV producer turned bestselling novelist shares the books she can’t put down

As a child, I loved the Milly-Molly-Mandy books written by Joyce Lankester Brisley and of course I wanted to be that little girl in her perfect pink and white striped dress! I think what appealed to m

Tucking her hands into her pockets, Joanne chased after Boo. ‘Good boy!’ she smiled, nearing the spaniel. Boo hardly ever ran off, and if he did shoot ahead, he’d wait for her, looking back until she

by Heather Rose (£20, HB, John Murray) Set in the wild, untamed beauty of 1840s Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), this sweeping historical novel follows Caroline, a courageous and determined woman carving