One Minute with: Roma Tearne

Where are you now and what can you see?

I'm in my study in Oxford and I can my garden with two wondeful old pillars which we got from a junk yard in Cornwall with some wisteria growing around them and a statue standing nearby.

What are you currently reading?

I'm dipping into a collection of William Trevor short stories. I find his turn of phrase so incredible. He gets so much in a sentence.

Choose a favourite author, and say why you like her/him

Alice Monro is among my favourites. I just like the way she starts the story with something you think is important because she's beginning with it but it but actually the story is something else. Your sense of perception i s turned.

Describe the room where you usually write

My study is the tiniest r oom in the house but it's filled with books, paintings, postcards and a Bechstein piano. I'm not a minimal person.

What distracts you from writing?

My daughter's A-levels.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

I have something of Maggie Tulliver in my from The Mill on the Floss. She was always mouthy and getting herself into all sorts of trouble. I'm afraid that's me.

What are your readers like when you meet them?

Perceptive and generous.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

It is (the Burmese democrat) San Suu Kyi, partly because were I in her position, I could not have left my family for a greater good, and partly because she's a great character and doing what she is doing in a peaceful way.

Roma Tearne's 'Brixton Beach' is published by HarperCollins.