Kate Evans

What else would you see as a part of an antecedent or a sort of formative book as you wrote Circus of Wonders?

Were there other representations of disability that you came across in fiction that you thought were well done?

Well, it sounds terrific.

But are there other examples of historical fiction in whatever period and whichever lives they're exploring that you particularly admire?

are there other books that have had that same impact on you one that just you know like your 10 year old self where it opened up this whole other world for you

It's a particularly strange time at the moment, isn't it, to talk about worlds expanding given lockdown, given COVID, given what's happened to the entire world.

So over the last year or so, and we're speaking to you and you're in England, and England's had long periods of lockdown.

So what has that meant?

What have you read or reread that's had a big impact on you in the last year or so?

But those 200 books last year, were they new books?

Were you looking for things already on your shelves?

What were you reading?

Well, that sounds really quite wonderful.

And I'm not going to put you on the spot by asking you to pull out from those any that, you know, were particularly remarkable.

So you haven't had time to read as much this year and you've just published a novel.

So I can imagine why.

But do you have any idea of what you're going to read next or what you're reading now?

I love a good shortlist.

And I think the Women's Prize shortlist is always a really interesting one.

Yes.