If you bump into a person with her face glued in a book, it's probably Olivia, the Novel Saboteur. Bus stops, lifts, the queue in a coffee shop, no moment is too small to grab another paragraph. And Novel is a real book person, so it's not just about the words. There's the smell of new pages, the crackle when it opens, and the reassuring weight in your bag that tells you these prattling people will fade away and you’ll be left alone to have a real conversation, with a good book.
The only thing that's allowed to get between Liv and a book is a dog. Any dog. Any size, any shape, any colour: every dog can have his day. Somewhere, some day, there will be a gentle dog training school called Liv & Learn. After languages at university Liv spent some time in Spain (fabulous food, cornucopian bookshops, eccentric dogs). Then New York (infant food, epic bookstores, not enough dogs). So, if you’re a dog and you're reading this, take off your glasses and put on your happy face. You've just met a friend for life.