During our first year at Cambridge, where we were both studying English, my friend Ella Berthoud (pictured, to my left) left a paper bag outside my door. Inside was a copy of Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis – the poetic outpourings of a cockroach named Archy. Archy has to hurl his entire body onto each individual typewriter key in turn to commit his words to the page – a process that is both painful and frustrating (he can’t hope to hold down the caps shift key at the same time; although once or twice he hits the caps lock key by mistake and EVERYTHING TURNS VERY DRAMATIC). Ella knew I wanted to be a novelist one day, but that I was paralysed by self-doubt: what if I didn’t turn out to be any good? What if I got rejected? What if I couldn’t take the inevitable pain of being told “no”? “If Archie can do it, you can bloody well do it, too,” she’d written on the inside cover page. And so the novel cures began.

A decade and many novels later, we set up the world’s first official Bibliotherapy Service at The School of Life in Bloomsbury, London. We’ve since prescribed novels to thousands of clients all over the world, some in person, many virtually. We took on a third member of the team, Simona Lyons, to help manage the demand, and trained other bibliotherapists in overseas branches of The School of Life, including Sydney and Melbourne. Perhaps you’ve seen us prescribing novels to families in schools; or  from the back of our vintage ambulance at literary festivals – from Sardinia to Sydney; or heard us proclaiming the curative powers of  Ali Smith or Agatha Christie at an independent bookstore near you. 

If you’d like a literary prescription – or want to give one to a bookish friend – visit The School of Life’s website and make a booking. We look forward to meeting you!