Jean Brodie – still in her prime.

So, to the Edinburgh Book Festival in earnest – and the sun is shining!

On Sunday I heard S J Parris (aka Stephanie Merritt) and Robyn Young talking about their historical fiction series. It was particularly intriguing to hear their different approaches to research – something it’s very easy to get so involved in that you almost forget to actually write the book…

Today I spent some time in the company of Jean Brodie and her girls, in a reading workshop on Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, chaired by Kathryn Ross. It’s one of my favourite books, and a miracle of economy: so many themes and unanswered questions packed into only 128 pages.

Tomorrow I’m chairing a reading workshop of my own, on Mary Renault’s The King Must Die – another of my favourites. It’s always fascinating to learn how differently people read and respond to the same book.

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