Penguin UK: The Book That Changed Me

I wrote a piece for Penguin UK about ‘The Book That Changed Me’. Turns out that this is a tricky brief! I’m lucky enough to have read many books over the years that have proved transformative in one way or another, but after I’d listed them out, the one that struck me most forcefully was How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff.

Then came the issue of distilling just how it had changed me. Because that is the nature of change, so often it worms its way under your skin until it is no longer possible to identify coherently. After a re-read and a weekend of (painful) introspection, I wrote this piece.

Here’s a snippet: ‘By nature, I am not the most trusting of individuals; not even close. But this is a book which taught me that, even in situations where I cannot trust others, I would do well to channel Daisy and begin by trusting in myself: my instincts, the validity of my own emotions, my voice. Change had happened just as Daisy said it would, by assimilating into my bones almost without my realising it, and showing cynical, sceptical me that sometimes, I just had to let it. To read How I Live Now is to learn that storytelling, at its best, can be a trust exercise.’

To read the full article, click here.