Lee Child

Lee Child, the prolific author of the Jack Reacher detective novels, talks to Adrian about his Midlands upbringing and its lasting influence. He talks of his early years in Coventry before moving to Birmingham where two libraries gave him his love of books. He describes the smell of the dusty shelves and the voracious appetite he developed for reading, so much so his parents obtained extra library cards in the name of visiting relatives.

“Even our dog had a library card,” he says. “Without those two libraries as a little kid, I would have been a completely different person. So when you ask ‘what did the Midlands mean to me?’ I mean, everything. That's who I am.”

Midlands Heroes: Jerry Dammers and Horace Panter for creating Two-Tone. “It was valuable musically, but it was also very valuable socially.”

Commissioned by Coventry City of Culture 2021 and proudly produced by Loftus Media.

Music by Maia Miller-Lewis.

Image of Lee Child by photographer Brian Aris, used by permission of Little Brown UK.

Who are your Midlands' heroes? Tell us at: [email protected]

Dive into the sound of the Midlands via our 'Made in the Midlands' playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7lTguCtjyUEMxzGoQYheLu

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