The Myth of My Father's Death

A lot of people who end up writing books and perhaps especially children's books had a missing parent in their life. Parents are the people you have to get rid of when you're writing a book about children because they spoil everything parents. I'm describing someone rather like Nigel Farage now, which horrified me. Well, I wasn't thinking that. I was thinking, well, there's something of the distant father who's in the real world of Lyra's father. Yes. But anyway, we were dutifully sorry, my brother and I dutifully sad, but I can't say I felt a great deal because he was always away.