One Minute With: Sabine Durrant, novelist

Durrant says: I'm Beatrix Potter's Mrs Tiggy-winkle, because I feel that all I do is the washing…'

Where are you now and what can you see?

I'm walking my dog on Wandsworth Common, and in front of me I can see the pool, with ducks, trees and overhead a distant aeroplane.

What are you currently reading?

'Broken Harbour' by Tana French, set on half-built estate outside Dublin –incredibly well-plotted.

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

Anne Tyler. Her prose is deceptively simple, and in her novels ordinary people do everyday things – but all human life is there.

Describe the room where you usually write

In bed with my laptop. It's quite a small bedroom but it overlooks the garden, and at the moment I can see next door's magnolia in bloom.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Sadly, not one of the great heroines like Jane Austen's Elinor Dashwood ['Sense and Sensibility']. Probably I'm [Beatrix Potter's] Mrs Tiggy-winkle, because I feel that all I do is the washing…

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

Camila Batmanghelidjh of the charity Kids Company: a charismatic woman who does amazing work with children living in poverty.

Sabine Durrant's 'Under Your Skin' is published by Mulholland Books