Cassie McCullough

He's sort of half man, half hedgehog.

And at the end of the fairy tale, the Grimm's fairy tale, he is transformed back into this handsome man, a bit like Beauty and the Beast as well, a Grimm's fairy tale.

And how that perpetuates this idea that, you know, that goodness is rewarded by being able-bodied and physically perfect.

And just...

The damage that can do.

And now through the book, she begins to interrogate all of these stories that she has been told throughout her life.

And towards the end, she begins to start telling a little girl with albinism called Pearl.

She begins to start telling her her own fairy tales, realising the power of a positive fairy tale for someone like her and for everyone, really.

So yeah, it's made me reflect a lot on our current representation of disability in literature, film, and really how much work we've got to do.

Yes, there's an amazing book of poetry, which I really recommend by Jen Campbell, and it's called The Girl Aquarium.

That really is a book of poetry about, again, about the freak show and about, you know, a lobster girl in particular, because Jen, the author of it, she has ectrodactyly, which I mentioned earlier.

And it's just so haunting and so powerful.

But there's also just so much life and zest and verve.

And it's about

all of these characters within her poems kind of reclaiming the space where their stories previously have been overwritten by the showman and just that kind of conflict.

So I think I've explained it incredibly badly, but it's a really wonderful book of poetry.

Oh, there are so many that I admire.

I'm such a fan of historical fiction.

I think actually the first historical novel which I came across, which really kind of ignited my passion for it, was Corrin Boyd by Jamila Gavin.

And I must have read that when I was about 10 years old.