Esther Freud’s own childhood was an unusual one - as the daughter of painter Lucian Freud and the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, this may not be surprising. Her first novel, Hideous Kinky, draws on her childhood memories of living in Morocco with her sister and their bohemian mother; her newest book, Mr Mac and Me, is the story of a young boy finding an unlikely friend in Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh. With meticulous skill and a sharp eye for the big moments we only recognise in hindsight, Freud gets her young narrators, as they puzzle out the messiness of family, relationships, and growing up. Our childhood is our past, and Freud shows how delving into it can bring a searching light to the question of how we end up the people we are.

Esther Freud was born in London and trained as an actress at the Drama Centre. Her first novel, Hideous Kinky about two children accompanying their mother in 1960s Morocco, was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and later made into a film starring Kate Winslet. She is the author of seven other novels and her most recent book is Mr Mac and Me.

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