Philippa Pearce -Tom’s Midnight Garden. Detail from cover design by Peter Farmer.

I have always loved reading. The books I had as a child were richly illustrated and even before I could understand the words I remember looking at the images that accompanied the stories. (Many of those ‘treasuries’ I still have and would never part with). I particularly enjoyed myths, legends, fables and particularly ghost stories or tales where the past and present intersect or overlap. I still do.