When I spoke at the Derbyshire Literary Festival, someone asked me which authors I like to read, and I mentioned the usual suspects – Carol Shields, Anne Tyler, and the less usual – Garrison Keillor.
In the heat of the moment, I forgot all about Helen Dunmore.
She is a poet as well as a novelist, and writes beautifully. But she doesn’t let her (poet’s) love of words get in the way of her (novelist’s) characterisation and story-telling. She is a brilliant writer. I have read The Siege three times so far, and this week I got the sequel to it – The Betrayal - from the library. (When it’s out in paperback I shall buy it.) I was drawn into the world of the story from the very first paragraph, and I am loving the book. But I love it so much, that I feel I need to ration it, and only read a few pages at a time. It’s so delicious, that I want it to last as long as possible.
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