Carol Drinkwater: My six best books
ACTRESS Carol, 61, starred in BBC1’s All Creatures Great And Small before becoming an author. She lives in the south of France with her film-maker husband Michel. Her book The Olive Tree (Phoenix, £7.99) is out now.
JUST WILLIAM
by Richmal Crompton
Macmillan, £5.99
Just William stories are very anarchic. William was a hero of mine and typical of who I was at that stage in my life. It’s more than 20 years since I last read them but I still have copies and would love to find time to re-read the collection.
HEART OF THE MATTER
by Graham Greene
Penguin, £7.99
This is set in Africa and Greene’s sense of location is excellent. The character’s marital crisis and the breakdown of a man at war with his emotions, physical sensuality and catholic conscience were elements which touched me. They’re issues Greene focuses on a good deal in his books.
THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES
by Jean Giono
Haarvill Press, £5.99
Considered one of the great French writers of the 20th century, Giono writes with a simplicity which is admirable and creates images of nature which are breathtaking. A great Provençal writer who knew the area before it became a tourist destination; he talks about it in a beautiful fairy tale-like way.
THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS
by lsabel Allende
Trueworld, £8.99
I’m an enormous fan of Allende, not only because of her writing but everything she does for women in Third World countries. She’s a writer of great magic and imagery. This is a political piece about life in South America. It’s a wonderful story of a family’s evolution.
SEA AND SARDINIA
by DH Lawrence
Out of print
This describes Lawrence’s journey from Sicily, where he was living, to Sardinia, then a little known island. It’s not only a wonderful chronicle of postwar Italian history but also a superb travel book. Lawrence had a way of using words and description which dances off the page. I re-read this regularly because it inspires me.
SUPER-CANNES
by JG Ballard
Flamingo, £7.99
I like most of Ballard’s books but this is set in my neck of the woods and is the one I wish I’d written. It’s a very visionary book and his images pierce your skin. His prose is perceptive and searing, too, and one of his greatest talents was the ability to go right to the heart of a person.