Jenny Downham trained as an actor and worked in alternative theatre before starting to write.  Her debut novel, Before I Die, sold in 35 languages, won several national and international awards and was made into a movie starring Dakota Fanning.  Her second novel, You Against Me, won the Waterstones Teen Fiction Prize, and her third novel, Unbecoming, won the Stonewall Honor Award from the American Library Association.  Her fourth novel, Furious Thing, was published in October 2019 and was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards and the YA Book Prize. It has also been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, 2021.

On this podcast, Jenny mentions the following books: Come Follow Me: Poems for the Very Young, Tales of Long ago retold by Enid Blyton, The Rainbow by DH Lawrence, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.

Get the books at Bookshop.org (and support independent bookshops) here.