We asked Emily to compile a list of the questions that she gets asked most frequently and here they are...

How did you come to write your first novel?
I worked at the Guardian for several years, until I could no longer resist the urge to go away travelling. One morning, on the spur of the moment, I asked the travel editor whether she'd let me go on a round the world trip, writing a column as I went. To my astonishment, she said yes, and so three weeks later I was boarding a plane to Rio, on my own. I travelled for a year, and will always remember that time, particularly my months in Asia, as among the best days of my life. There's nothing quite like that sense of freedom. When I came home, I had enough confidence to decide that I would have a go at that novel after all. The result was Backpack, and it has since been followed by Baggage, Cuban Heels and Atlantic Shift.

Did travelling change you?
I'm sure it did. I don't think I'd be writing novels now (I have just finished my fifth) if I hadn't had that experience. Not only that, but I met the man who is now my husband while I was in China, and we now have two young sons, aged three and one. We moved to France last year, and I'm not sure we would have been as quick as we were to do that if it hadn't been for that year travelling. Living in France has been a fantastic experience so far.

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