Hoping to sell our house soon and move to Hastings, so we are in a frenzy of tidying, decorating and cleaning. As part of this blitz, I had to confront a huge pile of books in the attic. On publication, authors receive “voucher copies” — typically six free copies of their book. We usually end up giving these away, and keep only a couple. However, when books are reprinted, the publisher sometimes sends a copy or two more. Occasionally I have received a dozen extra copies when, through a mix-up at the publishers, two people send me voucher copies.

Anyway, these books accumulate, and I had more than eight plastic crates full of books. I didn’t want to shift then from one loft to another, so I looked around for a worthwhile home for them.

I found one in Read for Good. This wonderful literacy charity distributes books to sick children in hospital, and sponsors visits by storytellers. They also supply books to schools in deprived areas whose pupils have no little or no access to books at home. Teaching staff in these schools work exceptionally hard to encourage their pupils to read, often without any significant budget to buy new books.

Read for Good sent a van and collected nearly 100 kg of my books, and I had a sweet thank-you from coordinator Debbie Young:

“They are beautiful books and will be greatly appreciated by children in hospital, who, because they’re so poorly, don’t have the concentration span to get stuck into a novel. Also it’s lovely that so many of them are on educational subjects. Missing school time can be a real issue for children who are being treated for very serious illness, and these books will help keep them in the loop. We especially love the “diary” series which is such a lovely way of learning about history in a very palatable way.”