Ella Frances recommends:
Stoner, John Williams - I cannot believe how this book detailing the life of just one imagined man manages to be both so ordinary, and so extraordinary. To this day, it is the only book that has made me cry.
My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell - My copy of this book is falling completely apart due to it having been read so many times; very few pages are still glued together. It shaped the way I thought as a child in a fantastical, knowledge-hungry way.
The Arrival, Shaun Tan - Technically a children’s publication, but in fact ageless, I found this in a dusty bookstore the week prior to leaving for a year in Morocco. For whatever reason the breathtaking, wordless images have been embedded into my mind, and I still dream of them often.
Children’s Titles
The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Judith Kerr - This was both slightly terrifying and very magical for a young mind, and combines two of my (still) favourite things: tea, and cats (albeit a large one).
The Promise, Nicola Davies & Laura Carlin - There have been some beautiful children’s books published in recent years, and I am a serious admirer of Laura Carlin’s work—the message is wonderful, the illustrations so softly beautiful.