Daisy Buchanan

violence and despair and all of these really devastating and heartbreaking things that were happening and the way that women were being exploited and manipulated.

And what I missed and what I really longed for was to read about a woman who, you know, was sort of like willfully full of desire and, you know, wanted to go into that world and throw herself in there and really explore it.

And I think as well, I said, you know, love Jackie Collins.

Jackie Collins writes a fabulous heroine who's like super confident.

And, you know, she unzipped her Versace pantsuit and she knew that all the men wanted her.

You know, that's great.

That's so much fun to read.

Violet doesn't feel like that at all.

She's really...

uncertain she's not always very confident and you know that's i've not i've not gone to the orgies but that's how i feel and i believe lots of readers will connect with a heroine who is torn between being full of these desires and full of that excitement but also negotiating that world where you know she doesn't necessarily always feel wildly confident about her body or her prowess

Well, I mean, you know, I flatter myself wildly.

A book that I adored that's just come out in the UK is Raven Leilani's debut, Luster, which just...

thrilled me and shocked me.

The writing is so devastatingly good.

It's such an incisive exploration of what it is to be

a young woman now.

And I loved that book.

Well, until quite recently, in the UK at the moment, we are operating via Zoom video chat, so not as usual, but Zoom.

Ideally, your book, we go into the home of an author that we are excited to talk to and really poke around as much as we are allowed and look at the books on their shelves.

And the idea came about because I know that when people talk about books, I think people often mention the books that sort of make them sound very clever, which, you know, fair enough.