'I just love growing my OWN VEG!"

Michael Ball on writing his first novel, and how he likes chilling out at home

- ROZ LEWIS

Michael Ball is having a busy year. On top of his touring and recording work with Alfie Boe, recent performances in Australia, and his regular Sunday morning Radio 2 show, he has also written his first novel.

It was back around Christmas 2020, during the second pandemic lockdown, that Michael began to write it. He explains, 'We'd reopened Les Misérables, and we did get performances in, but then it closed. None of us had anything to do, and I thought, OK, we are always told everyone has a novel inside them, and now's the time."

Michael adds, 'I am a big reader. I like to read for relaxation and for inspiration. And so I have tried to write a book that I like to read. I like a page-turner. I like great characters, and storylines. And I like humour. So hopefully readers will find the book quite funny in places as well.'

The first in a planned series, the books will follow the lives of the Lassiter and Treadwell families, starting from the aftermath of the Great War - fictional characters whose world revolves around The Empire, a great theatre in the north of the country.