Sophia Money-Coutts: ‘Books took me away from my parents’ divorce and school unhappiness’

The first book I remember being given was a Ladybird Guide to the Royal Family - I've no idea why it was deemed crucial that a four-year-old child furnishes herself with facts about the monarchy, but I remember waking from an afternoon nap at my grandparents' house in Kent and an adult, can't remember which one, pressing a copy into my small hands.