Minette Walters

The book that really sits behind it is Daphne du Maurier's House on the Strand, which is a fantastic book for anyone who hasn't read it.

I'm an absolute devotee of Daphne du Maurier.

I adore her work.

The House on the Strand is a very interesting blend of 20th and 14th century, and it all centres around an hallucinogenic drug that takes the main character back to the 14th century.

But it's not clear at the start anyway, or in fact I suppose all the way through,

whether it really takes him back to the 14th century or whether he is simply hallucinating.

I think she wrote it at the time of magic mushrooms and things, and it clearly was an idea, and it's entirely set in Cornwall, and she traces the medieval history and the modern history, in a sense, of Cornwall through this story.

I remember I read that maybe when I was early 20s or even late teens.

And it struck such a chord with me as a story.

And I've read it many times since.

So I think you can say that's the one that really stands absolutely behind it.

My other favourite author is Graham Greene.

And I've adored Graham Greene's work really again since I was teens, I suppose.

So apart from all the crime writers that I thoroughly enjoy and used to read.

Oh, I'll be asking you about those.

I used to read them in, you know, in spades.

But I think the thing is what both Daphne du Maurier did and Graham Greene did, which was exceptional in both cases, was they managed to become bestsellers, but they were also very, very good writers.

So their prose is fabulous.

And Graham Greene is, I mean, I think he's one of the best writers ever.

And yet all his books are so readable.