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Debut novelist Joanna Cannon talks about her bestselling first work of fiction, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a story of what it is to belong and how we treat those who don’t.

The novel is set during the 1975 heatwave and follows ten-year-old Grace and her best friend Tilly as they set out to investigate the disappearance of one of the residents in their street. Their investigation uncovers some long-buried secrets and reveals the full horror of an event that took place a decade earlier.

Cannon is a psychiatric doctor who went through the WoMentoring Project set up in 2014 by author Kerry Hudson to match mentors from the publishing industry with up-and-coming female writers. Her writing is inspired by her interest in people on the fringes of society and on the borders of sanity. Here she talks to journalist and fellow writer Lucy Atkins, author of the novels, The Night Visitor, The Missing One and The Other Child, and of a number of non-fiction books.