The setting as a character, and why the places in some novels stay with you

Some books leave you with a plot. Others leave you with a place.

You finish the last page and realise what you miss most is not the twist or the romance or even the protagonist. It is the street, the house, the river, the city at dusk. The particular kind of light that only exists in that fictional world.

A guide to reading Joan Didion

I’m a big fan of Joan Didion. I’ve read most of her published works, with her novel Play It As It Lays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and The Year of Magical Thinking among my favourites. What I’ve always appreciated about her writing is the precision and emotional depth she brings to her words. Few others come close. She possessed an unmatched ability to distil complex emotions and cultural shifts into sentences that feel both effortless and weighty.

Joan Didion's writing is a masterclass in precision and insight. Her distinctive style, marked by pared-down, rigorous prose, captured the nuances of American life and personal introspection. As a leading figure in the New Journalism movement of the 1960s, Didion's work blended literary flair with journalistic integrity, offering readers a profound lens through which to view the world.