What practical reason does Philippa Gregory need a Charles Dickens novel for on her desert island?

I’m reading Molly Keane, a between-the-wars Anglo-Irish novelist. At first sight she tells delicious stories of the eccentric Anglo-Irish wealthy elite, but every novel holds a subtlety that is highly aware of the injustice underpinning that society.

One of my favourites is Good Behaviour, about a pair of ­adorable siblings who live for fox hunting in an enormous estate and care for nothing but each other, their horses and dogs, and their father whom they call ‘The Sir’.

It’s a wonderful picture of a ­society which has completely ­disappeared, and a fictional ­creation of huge charm.

I think I’d want to take a big book – for use as a step, and self-defence against any dangerous spiders.

I think one of the great writers of the big book is Charles Dickens. One of my favourites of his is Dombey And Son.

The huge sentimentalism around a beautiful frail child is combined with a story about a merciless social climber.

It’s a great and unpredictable read – and it would also crush most vermin.

The first book I ever read by myself was a Little Grey ­Rabbit book by Alison Uttley.

Illustrations are so important for children’s books and this whole series had beautiful miniature watercolours.

I was allowed, aged four, to look at the pictures before I went to sleep and I learned to read the words.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I have read War And Peace, by ­Leo Tolstoy, all the way through twice in my life, and still never quite understand what all the fuss is about.

As a novelist, I want more ­narrative and more personal development and more fiction!

As a historian, I don’t like how the fiction is dropped into the ­history, and in any case, military history is very far from my ­interest, which is social history. So I admire the production and the intention – but it’s not for me.