For someone who has read voraciously from the age of two, hoovering up stories as fast as my parents could deliver them to my often grabbing hands, I have barely read in the 9 months since I started the course. This is partly due to my juggling of two part time jobs, a new business venture and my own writing but mainly because I was stared down by my overwhelming to read pile and globe-circumventing to read list.

Since the first class when David Miller gave us a list of favourite books I have been body slammed, head snapped and sucker punched by new authors and exciting work. If we had time for a bottle of wine I would tell you all about them but I need to continue writing this evening and I am in the middle of making a killer chicken caesar salad. I did however manage to steal enough time today (another story I promise) to finish The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson, the writer in residence for the MA course – and thoroughly enjoyed it.