Helen Dunmore

Anna Metcalfe interviewed Helen Dunmore for the Financial Times. Dunmore has published 10 novels, as well as poetry collections, short stories and children’s books. Her latest novel, now out in the U.K., is Counting the Stars; her latest children's book available in the U.S. is The Tide Knot.

A few exchanges from the interview:

What is the last thing you read that made you laugh out loud?

Rachel Cusk’s The Country Life. There’s a beautiful description of a girl who’s driving a car without knowing how to.

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What books changed your life?

Fairy tales by Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. They made me realise how many worlds could be created in one volume.

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What book do you wish you had written?

Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim. But I don’t wish I had written it. I’m just glad someone did.

Read the entire interview.

--Marshal Zeringue