What better way is there to say, ‘Hey he’s not such a bad guy, really’?Įach and Every One by Rachael English is out now.The book is set in the Alps, and this setting plays a big part in elevating this book’s stature. And then it came to me I would show him reading a bed-time story to his son. Needless to say, I did a great deal of head-scratching, coffee-drinking and Twitter-reading. When I was writing my new book, Each and Every One, I got to a point where I wanted to show that a character’s experiences were turning him into a more likeable person. I know what it’s like to find solace or entertainment in a novel. It’s not just that a fondness for words has enabled me to have a career as a journalist and – more recently – to write books of my own. I’m indebted to my mum who fostered that love of reading. Heidi’s story encouraged me to discover other books – from Just William and his friends to Patricia Lynch’s tales about Brogeen the Leprechaun from Little Women to Noel Streatfeild. I can remember wanting to be part of her world. To say that a book changed your life is a big statement, but all these years later I can remember the thrill of reading Heidi. It's illustrated with black and white sketches and the occasional full-colour picture: here a rosy-cheeked Peter, there a wan and sad-eyed Clara. There remains something beautiful about it, though. It was published in 1955, and I think that ‘much loved’ would be the kindest way to describe its condition. My copy – and I still have it – originally belonged to my mum. But, more likely, it’s because I then read it by myself. Perhaps, it’s because the descriptions of Heidi’s mountain home were so enchanting. Perhaps, this is because it seemed so much more grown-up than other books. Of course, she’d read other books, but Johanna Spyri’s story about a little girl who goes to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps is the one that has lodged in my brain. When I was six, my mother read Heidi to me. This post was originally published at and is now at.
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