Virginia Evans, the Women's prize-shortlisted novelist, reflects on her literary journey, from childhood favourites to the books that changed her life. She shares her earliest reading memory, favourite books growing up, and the authors who inspired her.
Earliest Reading Memory
Evans recalls reading The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams or the poems in Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein with her sister, who was two years older and set the example for her to become a reader. She pictures them in the back of their family car or lying across their twin beds in the room they shared.
Favourite Book Growing Up
She loved mysteries and fantasy worlds, reading many Nancy Drew books and The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. She also adored the Narnia stories and The Wind in the Willows. 'I loved books about things that can't exist. I suppose it's all escapism – crimes solved by children, talking animals, time travel, people two inches tall. I always loved to slip into another, better world.'
The Book That Changed Me as a Teenager
At 15, she read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. 'It was my first real understanding of what fiction can do, how far a story can go, how words can be put to the intricacies of living. It stretched my empathy, seeing what the Joad family endured, learning through story what had happened in that place and time in American history.'
The Writer Who Changed My Mind
Joan Didion. 'Every time I read her work, I am changed in some way. Her writing makes me think of the world, people, politics, the land, water, time, motherhood, marriage differently.'
The Book That Made Me Want to Be a Writer
In college, majoring in English and creative writing, she read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. 'I discovered what can be done with language and words to make something beautiful and compelling. I thought: I have to do this, I can do this, I will do this.'
The Author I Came Back To
She tried Jane Austen too young and didn't understand the language or story. When she returned to Pride and Prejudice in her late 20s, she enjoyed it tremendously.
The Books I Reread
Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Steinbeck's East of Eden are books she reads again and again. 'I'm due for a pass of East of Eden right about now.'
The Book I Could Never Read Again
She devoured Stieg Larsson's Millennium series but was terrified throughout. 'I have considered going back, but I was so disturbed by it I don't think I will.'
The Book I Discovered Later in Life
She didn't read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott until just before the 2019 film. 'I wept through the scenes of Jo trying to make it as an author. It hit so close, and of course I had not made it. I was still spreading the pages across the floor in hope and despair. I had my own children by then, and identified so much with the girls' mother – something that would not have happened if I'd read it when I was young.'
The Book I Am Currently Reading
While I Was Gone by Sue Miller, a reread. 'I discovered Miller 15 years ago, just walking through a used book store and looking at spines. I love her stories, especially some of those older ones. I love the eerie undercurrent of the book and the construction of the whole thing – from the story arc down to the sentences.'
My Comfort Read
'Can I pick a few? The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.'
