Rite of passage

Worlds built by words and tales on our screens have kept us company in the best and worst of times. Debut author of the year Megha Majumdar tells us about the films and books that sparked her first novel

- Megha Majumdar

As I write this in mid-April, my husband and I have been isolating in our Brooklyn apartment for a month. We have worn home-made masks, queued outside the grocery store, and heard the horrifying sound of ambulance sirens at all hours. In these grim weeks, I’ve found myself reaching for comforts—cooking (Smitten Kitchen’s Portuguese piri piri chicken) and Netflix, to name two. Funny television hits the spot: old episodes of Arrested Development and The Office. I’ve been reading a lot too. A good book feels like the best way to be transported beyond our apartment walls in these socially distanced times. I’m reading a novel called Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit (Bloomsbury), set as far away from the present as possible, in the 17th-century colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Especially now, a book that completely absorbs the reader and frees them from the stress of the news cycle feels important.