Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannahis a British poet and novelist. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge and between 1999 and 2001 a junior research fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She lives with her husband and two children in Cambridge...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPoet
books mysterious wrote
Agatha Christie never wrote books that just started with a dead body, and a 'Let's find out who the murderer is', which is kind of mysterious but not that mysterious. She always started with, 'How can this thing be happening; isn't it strange?'
firmly love rather taken writers
I know a lot of crime writers feel very underrated, like they're not taken seriously, and they want to be just thought of as writers rather than ghettoised as crime writers, but I love being thought of firmly as a crime writer.
austen good highbrow jane literary romantic type
No highbrow literary type would ever say 'Moby Dick' is good but it's just about a whale, or a Jane Austen would be important if she wasn't just writing about romantic relationships.
few people
There are very few well-adjusted people in my books. But I do think that's normal. Because everyone does have their issues and hang-ups.
damage equipped knew might onto
If we knew more about psychology, we would be better equipped to deal with other people's psychological damage which they might project onto us.
abnormal characters few life
My characters all have issues, but I don't see that as weird or abnormal because I think in real life there are very few bland, normal people.
enjoying fulfilled wish women
A lot of women feel like they should be enjoying motherhood, they should be fulfilled and shouldn't be thinking, 'I wish I didn't have to do this.'
contain dead highly impossible meticulous novels opening seeds structure
My crime novels are highly structured. I never start out with a dead body. I start with an impossible scenario. Opening questions should be mysterious, weird, intriguing, and contain the seeds of the solution. The structure has to be meticulous - I'm a structure freak.
poetry verses wrote
All through childhood, I wrote verses and mysteries. There is, for me, one connection: structure. My poetry is metrical, rhyming.
favourite french lots next
I've got lots of favourite authors, but I would say Nicci French because I look more forward to reading her next new book than any other author.
hour quarters west
In West Yorkshire, I'd have to drive three quarters of an hour to go shopping.