Fiona Barton trains and works with journalists all over the world. Previously, she was a senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph and chief reporter at the Mail on Sunday, where she won Reporter of the Year at the National Press Awards. Her first novel, The Widow (New American Library, February 16, 2016), is a psychological thriller told by the wife of a man accused of a terrible crime.
On your nightstand now:
What Ho, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehouse: comfort reading book for the end of a long day. I know whole passages by heart, but it still can make me laugh out loud (to the annoyance of husband). The American Lover by Rose Tremain: the short story of the title is possibly the best I have ever read, but all are jewels. And The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson: What can I tell you? It is surprising, shocking, funny and written by a journalist. Ticks all my boxes.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome.
Your top five authors:
Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall; Bring Up The Bodies); Kate Atkinson (Life After Life; A God in Ruins; When Will There Be Good News?); Kazuo Ishiguro (A Pale View of Hills; Remains of the Day); Donna Tartt (The Goldfinch); Rose Tremain (Music and Silence; The American Lover).
Book you've faked reading:
Dante's Inferno: an assigned book for Italian A Level that I never quite got to grips with. To my shame, I read it in English.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Close Range by Annie Proulx. This is a collection of wonderfully strange short stories set in Wyoming. People usually mention that "Brokeback Mountain"--the story that became an Oscar-winning film--comes from this book, but I would urge you to read on, to discover the other gems. Have a look at "55 Miles to the Gas Pump." It is only 266 words, but there is a world packed into every sentence, and Annie Proulx's writing is so spare and clean that it makes the twist genuinely shocking and moving. A master class.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The Earth from the Air by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It is a book of stunning photographs of places and people, bought to remind me how beautiful our world is.
Book you hid from your parents:
The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins, very naughty at the time and passed round at school.
Book that changed your life:
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome was the first proper book I read for myself (on a long car journey across Europe when I was about seven). It pulled me into another world, where I could not be reached by my parents, who were anxious to point out the sights we were passing. Perhaps that was the start of everything.
Favorite line from a book:
"Mother died today. Or maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure." --from L'Etranger by Albert Camus. I love the detachment and strangeness of these first lines. And the fact that it opens up so many possible stories in 10 words.
Five books you'll never part with:
My well-thumbed copy of The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton, read and re-read as a child; my children's copy of Dogger by Shirley Hughes, a heart-rending tale of a lost toy; Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, a book that completely blew me away with its distinctive narrative style; A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, because I loved this brilliant, weird book so much I cried when I finished it; and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson because it gives me something to aspire to.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Wolf Hall. I can remember sitting for hours, mesmerized by the way Mantel told this story. She had a brilliant cast of characters from Henry VIII's court, but it was the telling that stopped me in my tracks, the sheer vividness of her language.
Advice for would-be writers:
Stop making excuses and start today.
