Anna Tuckett

Like most of you I'm at home, trying to work and pondering how the next weeks and months will look. I count myself lucky: professional writers are uniquely prepared to cope with both enforced isolation and working from home - it is pretty much the job description. But it also makes me wonder whether we are about to find out if the old adage, which says that everyone has a book in them, is true. We are in the middle of the world’s greatest experiment in homeworking, which presents a one-off opp

I do not wish to add to all the opinions and reports about Coronavirus you might have read. The amount of information and misinformation has been overwhelming and you might be, understandably, quite sick of it (excuse the pun).

I hated my after-school piano lessons. I wasn’t a natural and did not understand why I was expected to practice scales for hours, when I saw no benefit to it – I still could not play well. After several years, I admitted defeat and gave it up. I wish I could play the piano – or any instrument - well, but I accepted long ago that I just was not any good and I was not prepared to toil away in order to achieve at best mediocre results.

The news that Laura Ashley had narrowly avoided collapse did not really surprise me. For years, I would visit our local branch and browse desultorily, then leave empty-handed. I should have been glad that I was saving money, but instead, I felt a little sad and bewildered. Its distinctive look was in fashion again, but the people in charge of the company seemingly didn’t notice. In a bid to appeal to everyone, it ended up appealing to very few. Eventually, I would visit only once or twice a ye

Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir, which came out in 1996, chronicled the life of the then-34-year-old writer who set out on a journey to find herself by visiting Italy, India and Bali. It’s sold millions of copies, has been translated into many languages and was made into a film starring Julia Roberts. Gilbert’s soul-baring book was such a success because many readers shared her feelings of dissatisfaction with the way her life had turned out. Her quest to find happi