The Guardian view on book therapy: an old idea finds new life | Editorial

A generous act by the creator of the detective Vera reminds us that reading can help people in the hardest times

The library of Pharaoh Ramesses II is said to have borne the inscription the house of healing for the soul". Dylan Thomas reportedly liked to relax by reading Agatha Christie while he sucked sweets in the bathtub. The novelist Yiyun Li turns to War and Peace in the toughest times; when she launched a virtual reading group on Tolstoy's masterpiece in lockdown, 3,000 people signed up.

In recent years, a growing body of research has backed up what we know intuitively: that books not only entertain and educate, but can also help us to recover and grow. They offer companionship to the lonely, insight to the anxious, and release to those who feel trapped.