I think fiction....

[Paul Whybrow]

“I think fiction is fundamentally an act of sharing, of intimate human communion. There’s no limit to its intimacy, nor its candour. To be drawn into a story is like receiving an embrace, to know you are not alone. Readers may begin a novel feeling at first that they’re entering a foreign country. Who are these people? What has all this got to do with me? But then, if the story works, there will be a point when they say to themselves: “Hold on a moment, I’ve been there too.”

Graham Swift

(from a Guardian interview 16/01/2021)