I’ve always loved reading even from a young age. Even before I started school, I was desperately trying to read the back of my dad’s newspaper! There is nothing like settling down to a good book which allows me to transport myself to another world and escape from my troubles.

Books have so many fond memories for me too. I still have my original copies of Beatrix Potter stories that I used to love reading to my mum and as I got older, we would happily re-read Enid Blyton stories, particularly The Magic Faraway Tree collection.

The book that has a special place in my heart though is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I remember when it came out and I read it for the first time at primary school. All I desperately wanted was to receive my own letter from Hogwarts and I still secretly hope it will happen to this very day! From that day on my mum used to pre-order each Harry Potter book as it was released and we would get up early and queue outside the shop to buy it on release day. There was so much excitement and joy in our house and sometimes we would even buy two copies so that two people in our house could read it at the same time without having to wait for someone to finish. Even now both my sister and I make sure we always have a copy of each of the Harry Potter books in the house and regularly go back and re-read them. It is the one book that guarantees to cheer me up and make me feel better due to the fond memories and magical, intricate storytelling.