It’s been so long since I burnt the midnight oil reading a good book. So I couldn’t wait to discover whose writing it was that captivated award winning journalist Jenni Russell to such a degree of excitement that she stayed up until 3 am to finish reading her book.

It turned out to be The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life, by William Nicholson, who is not only an accomplished writer, but also a very distinguished screenwriter too, whose films include Elizabeth of the Golden Age, in which my husband starred as an extra. And it is the “everyday life” aspect which so appeals to Jenni, the way in which Nicholson describes fictional family life in Sussex, from unfaithful couples and sexually precocious teenagers, to grouchy grandmothers, treachery and joy. In a Sunday Times article, she berates publishers for not promoting more authors who capture our times by telling us stories that are honest, intelligent and profound for the considerable value they provide in enriching our lives.

It takes a gifted writer to describe everyday life in a way which will resonate and capture the reader’s imagination because most people’s lives lack the kind of drama which we would be curious to read about. And, I wonder, does Nicholson base his novels on events that have really happened, and he then weaves them into evocative prose; after all, fact is stranger than fiction. I decided to order three of Nicholson’s books on Jenni’s recommendation and also anticipate being bleary eyed in the mornings if I am equally enraptured.

I was always passionate about the everyday 19th century French lives narrated by Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola and Stendhal, who vividly describe the colourful shenanigans of their contemporaries; how different were their shenanigans  compared to those in Sussex today? They are, I suspect, several common themes. In fact, I was never without one of these great French works of literature when attending court as a reporter for the Cambridge News, I always had in my bag ready to delve into during a long legal argument or to pass the time when the jury was out deliberating the outcome of a case.

Maybe one day I will be tempted to write a novel based on my experiences, and I sometimes think our family life would make a great sit-com – but perhaps that should be Nicholson’s next challenge….

And if you have stayed up till 3am because of a gripping book you had to finish, I would love to know what it was.