Way back during the first lockdown here in the UK I was asked by fellow children’s author Katherine Rundell to contribute to a project she was calling The Book of Hopes. I wrote a short piece called ‘The Comfort of Crime Fiction’, and I became one of 133 contributors to the anthology, both authors and illustrators.

The book was first available for free online – it’s now also been published as a gorgeous hardback edition. And in the last few weeks we’ve been given some amazing pieces of news about it.

First of all, it’s going to be released as an audiobook, read by Stephen Fry, Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Bailey Smith. My essay is read by Helena Bonham Carter, which just feels incredible to be able to say.

And we’ve just heard that The Book of Hopes has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year 2020, along with authors like Bolu Babalola, David Olusoga and Dara McAnulty. It’s such an amazing honour, and I’m so proud of everyone involved in the project, especially Katherine Rundell and the whole team at Bloomsbury.

I hope that if you have read it, it’s helped fill you with resolve and joy. It can feel like there’s not much to go around this year, but I promise you that it’s still there if you go looking for it.