Find out which rabbit hole Alice Feeney would travel down while on a desert island in this week's What Book?
What Book...
Previously a journalist at the BBC, Alice Feeney is now a best-selling Mystery and Thriller novelist
…are you reading now?
Orbital by Samantha Harvey. It’s a beautiful book, small but ever so perfectly formed, and easy to disappear inside.
It’s about a team of astronauts in the International Space Station and so much more.
I read all genres, including a lot of thrillers, but I love a book that can make me stop and think about the world and remind me how small and insignificant we and our seemingly insurmountable problems are. This story is a warning and a reminder that we are tiny specks of nothing floating in an infinite universe.
…would you take to a desert island?
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I will love this book until the day I die. Having it with me means I can disappear down the rabbit hole whenever I feel the need. Which is often.
I spend a lot of time on my own as an author, so I think life on a desert island would suit me fine. So long as I had my dog, my husband, my books, and my laptop I think I would be happy enough.
…first gave you the reading bug?
Matilda showed Feeney that fiction can do far more than just entertain
I have always hidden inside books when the real world gets too loud. It’s hard to remember the first book – I would have been very young, but I remember the ones that shaped me.
Matilda by Roald Dahl was a favourite. I remember reading it as a young child, and understanding for the first time that fiction can do far more than just entertain.
I read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood when I was at school and that had a profound effect on me. I also read a lot of Stephen King.
When I was a little girl, my school had an annual prize giving. I was dreadful at sport, but did well academically, so I often won book tokens and we were allowed to choose the books ourselves.
The other kids would go up on stage and collect a giant atlas or encyclopaedia. When it was my turn, I’d get a stack of Stephen King paperbacks with a certificate squished inside, which always raised eyebrows but might explain why I write the way I write.
…left you cold?
I read a lot and I enjoy most of the books. But there were certain things I was made to read at school which I tried and failed to love. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales fall into that category. The Wife Of Bath’s Tale was not for me. Luckily there were plenty of stories that were. I think all reading is good reading, but reading what you love is the best variety.
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Macmillan £16.99) is out on 30th January 2025
