We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Bookends Beach Party | David Nicholls, Sheila O’Flanagan and Beth O’Leary share which of their characters they would take on holiday!

Each week this summer, we’re asking some of our favourite authors to share their summer essentials. This week, David NichollsSheila O’Flanagan and Beth O’Leary tell us which characters from their books they would whisk away for a summer trip…

Beth O’Leary, author of The Flatshare

Ooh, interesting question! I think I’d like Leon to take me to Ireland. We both have Irish roots (though mine are more distant than Leon’s!) and I would love to explore that side of my family with someone who knows Ireland well. Plus I think Leon would be great to travel with: he’d want his own space, he’d be nice and quiet on the plane so you could read your book, and if you, say, sprained your ankle while swimming in the sea, well, he’d be able to carry you to shore…

Sheila O’Flanagan, author of Her Husband’s Mistake

Interesting question! I think Juno, from The Hideaway, is more like me than some of my other characters so we might have fun together. I know she’s a big fan of Spain since she found her summer hideaway in the orange groves of Valencia, so I’d bring her to the beautiful Basque country and the town of San Sebastián which is one of the loveliest places in the world.

David Nicholls, author of Sweet Sorrow

Well, not Douglas from Us – we’re too alike. Probably Emma in One Day. She wouldn’t insist on laying in the midday sun.