Fleur Macdonald

Shelf Life: Jane Asher

Jane Asher is second in the hot seat. She tells us how to get children reading; who she would have a literary fling with and what exactly would make her end a friendship.

1) What are you reading at the moment?

Inspired by seeing her interviewed recently, I’m catching up with Diana Athill’s collected memoirs: I’ve got to half way through ‘Instead of a Letter’. She writes so beautifully and frankly that she makes the most mundane events completely fascinating.

2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?

Sherlock Holmes; Frances Hodgson Burnett (particularly A Little Princess) and the Dimsie books by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?

I read the whole of Les Miserables a couple of years ago (except for the very heavy-going political chapters that the translator thoughtfully advised the reader to skip) and Fantine’s death really did make me cry.

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