A former barrister, Helen Fields' books have been translated into more than 20 languages and won global recognition.
Every novel in her DI Callanach series has claimed an Amazon #1 bestseller flag. Fields also writes as HS Chandler. Her first UK hardback, The Institution, is out now (Avon, £14.99).
The book I loved as a child
My father worked with the military across the world and one of his longest postings was in Canada.
When he returned after months away, he brought back a copy of The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and began reading it to me aloud. I fell in love with Tolkien’s glorious world-building and the warmth in his narrative voice.
The book that inspired me as a teenager
I recognise this is probably every teenager’s go-to as an inspirational novel, but Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird really affected me.
It fed my desire to become a lawyer, gave a focus for my teenage furies, and widened my world.
The book I’ve never finished
Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I’ve tried starting this 782-page beast several times, but always end up distracted by life. That’s no fault of this brilliant author.
The book that moved me most
The Help by Kathryn Stockett features some of the best characterisations I have ever read, the most poignant messages and the most affecting, beautiful and hilarious moments.
The book I’m reading now
I loved All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, an ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France. It offers aunique reading experience, combining real history with other worldliness.
