In 4 Books, we ask an author to answer 4 questions on the books that made them — on those books that made a significant impact at distinct junctures of their lives.

It might be the book that guided them through a break up, the one that they press urgently into a friends’ hand, the book that best articulates love, or the book that opened up the world in a startling new way.

Reading has a unique power to universalise the most private of experiences, and the books we turn to can reveal more about ourselves than we think. In 4 Books, we use literature to glimpse the inner life of our authors.

Our guest today is Eleanor Wasserberg, a graduate of the Creative Writing Programme at the University of East Anglia. Originally from Staffordshire, where her new book is set, she now lives in Norwich, where she teaches English.

Her new book, Foxlowe, a compulsive and chilling debut about a girl growing up in a cult, is out now, published by 4th Estate Books.