Maggie O'Farrell at Edinburgh International Book Festival (edbookfest)

Instructions for a Heatwave was described by the Los Angeles Review of Books as ‘perhaps a perfect book’ – high praise indeed but typical of the acclaim that Edinburgh-based Maggie O’Farrell has attracted for her sixth novel. Full of unforgettable characters, the story charts a family descending into crisis against the backdrop of a stifling summer. Today, O’Farrell talks about how she constructed her novel.