We read books to my daughter from birth, which enriched all our lives

A difficult pregnancy meant the only item I dared buy for my unborn child was a book. When she arrived we read it to her every day

Nine years ago, I gave birth to a little girl. And now that little girl has grown into a bookworm. It began, as all stories about books should really begin, in a bookshop. I was several months pregnant and I picked up an American picture book I had never come across before: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. It featured a poem that my husband and I would end up reading, oh, I don't know, at least 900 times. The book became such a pillar of my daughter's nightly routine that by the time she could talk, I realised she knew it by heart.

It also marked a turning point for me. I had been finding the pregnancy hard. Various complications meant it was high risk, and there was a good chance I would not manage to carry my baby to term. This knowledge weighed heavily in my heart while, in my womb, Flora was literally doing somersaults for the sonographers, happily oblivious to my concerns.