Simon was joined by author Isabelle Marinov whose latest book, Henri and the Machine, hits shops on July 6th.

When Isabelle was 9 years old, her parents gave her a red typewriter for her birthday. She began typing away, crafting stories in German and in Luxembourgish, her native language.

Growing up, “writer” seemed like a non-existent job description. Isabelle studied law in France and in the US and got a "proper" job. But she secretly continued to write in the evenings and on weekends.
After her first son was born, she returned to her lifelong passion––writing, and for the first time, she thought about it as a job. Isabelle speaks four languages fluently but for a reason that defies her, English is her preferred language for prose.