I have a little study in the attic of our house with one of the best views in Oxford – the dreaming spires seen from Iffley. I love researching my books, especially when they involve meeting people and finding out about their lives. I am passionate about writing and unembarrassed to be so. Although the greater part of my childhood was spent outside pursuing any number of outdoor activities, I have always wanted to be a writer. In this magnificent, deeply moving novel, the stories ofMarie-Laure and Werner illuminate the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.I was born near Liverpool and grew up first on the Wirral and then in Cheshire. And a future which draws her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, destined to labour in the mines until a broken radio fills his life with possibility and brings him to the notice of the Hitler Youth. The walled city by the sea, where father and daughter take refuge when the Nazis invade Paris. The microscopic layers within the invaluable diamond that her father guards in the Museum of Natural History. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. ?Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.?įor Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can?t.Ī beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to?search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront?how far they are willing to go to save the other.Normal People?is the story of mutual fascination, friendship and love. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. But when the two strike up a conversation?awkward but electrifying?something life changing begins.A year later, they?re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin.

At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner.

Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there.

Jambusters book