Philippa Gregory: ‘I read 100 of the best 18th century novels – the perfect author’s apprenticeship’

The British novelist on discovering Molly Keane, coming to Dickens late, and the books that taught her the importance of writing about history My earliest reading memory My mother always read me a bedtime story, but by around age three, I was not looking at the pictures but reading the text.

After that, I read to myself, and would read four books a week from the library. My favourite book growing up As a child I read Alison Goudge’s The Little White Horse, and the combination of history and gothic fantasy…