We're off to South London this week to meet and chat to the fabulous Ayisha Malik! Ayisha worked in publishing before the publication of her first smash hit novel Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, described as 'the Muslim Bridget Jones'. She then produced a sequel The Other Half of Happiness and her new book, This Green and Pleasant Land has just been released to great acclaim. We talked to her about Rochester versus Darcy, religion in writing, childhood faves and terrible author behaviour.

BOOKS

Daisy Buchanan - The Sisterhood

Ayisha Malik - Sofia Khan is Not Obliged

Ayisha Malik - This Green and Pleasant Land

L. Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz

Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Angela Carter - Fairy Tales

Jane Austen - Persuasion

Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen - Emma

Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Nancy Mitford - Love in a Cold Climate

Nancy Mitford - The Pursuit of Love

Nancy Mitford - Don’t Tell Alfred

Muriel Spark - Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Muriel Spark - Momento Mori

Muriel Spark - Loitering With Intent

Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones’s Diary

Helen Fielding - The Edge of Reason

Monica Ali - Brick Lane

Norton Anthology of Literature

Graham Greene - End of the Affair

Graham Greene - A Burnt Out Case

Anita Brookner - Hotel Du Lac

Alex Khan - Bollywood Wives

Regina Porter - The Travellers

Nigella Lawson - Nigella Kitchen

Giorgio Locatelli - Made in Sicily

Brian Chikwava - Harare North

Fatima Bhutto - Songs of Blood and Sword

Kate Fox - Watching the English

JK Rowling - Casual Vacancy

Liane Moriarty - Big Little Lies

Richard Yates - Collected Stories

Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road

Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Grace Paley - Collected Stories

Richard Flanagan - Narrow Road to the Deep North

Adam Johnson - Orphan Master’s Son

Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment

Elif Bautman - The Idiot

Elena Ferrante - My Brilliant Friend

Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d’Ubervilles

Thomas Hardy - Far From the Madding Crowd

David Nicholls - One Day

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