Perry (The Essex Serpent) couldn’t even go into her study at first; books seemed items of contempt. But: “Recently I have concluded that all this amounts to a kind of failure of courage. As lockdown continues, I find my imagination has not faltered against this hard reality, but has itself grown harder. Everything which was sad before is sadder now, but everything which was wonderful is more wonderful. Imagination roots itself in feeling, and the novel I’d been working on grew larger and more vivid while my back was turned.” – The Guardian (UK)