IN BETWEEN DAYS

Harriet Lane on the Keatsian coming-of-age story that stuck with her forever Dusty Answer’ by Rosamond Lehmann

- Harriet Lane

Some books read early stay with you forever; that first dazzled encounter making such an impression that the texture of your life becomes part of the narrative.

So, for me, Our Island Story is about being nine and lying on a wall beside a swimming pool: a warm Pepsi with a straw in it, the smell of chlorine and pine trees. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is about bolting a cheddar and Branston sandwich in the dining hall of primary school, itching to finish the last few pages before afternoon lessons. There’s a family day out on a Somerset steam train when I was 12: people trying to interest me in things passing, and then shrugging and giving up, saying: “Well, that’s Rebecca for you.”