Book of the Week: White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Helen Oyeyemi was just 21 when her first novel, The Icarus Girl, came out, establishing her as one of the most exciting new voices of the new millennium. As her third novel, White is for Witching, is published, she explains why she loves ghost stories, and how she has drawn on the supernatural traditions of the Caribbean and Nigeria as well as plundering the treasure chest of Victorian literature. She reveals why Dover is such a weird and troubled place and why writers should steer clear of English degrees. In a reading from the novel, she introduces her central character, Miranda, a twin with a disturbing eating disorder.