Dr Lesley McDowell is a novelist and writer of non-fiction, she was a lecturer in English Literature at St Andrews University, then became a full-time freelance literary critic, writing for publications like The Herald, The Scotsman, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and others.

Her first novel, The Picnic, was published in 2007, and her second –Unfashioned Creatures - about Mary Shelley’s Scottish childhood friend, was published in 2013. We discuss the books she loves and her latest novel, Clairmont.