16 May 2022
Since I was a young child I've been fascinated by the identity people get from their families, good and bad, being part of a ‘gang'. The idea that for some people being in a large family gives them protection from the real world. I remember an interview with one of my favorite novelists, Kate Atkinson, who was frequently bemused at being told by adults: you're an only child, you must be spoilt. She'd think about the houses she'd go to where the children fought and smashed each other's toys, the constant, multi-layered land wars of siblings and she'd go home and calmly play with her unbroken toys and think: but none of this is spoilt-I'm not the spoilt one.
