The actress Perdita Weeks has answered our impertinent questions this week. Those who imagine her to be a romantic will be disappointed: she’s very practical when it comes to love and books. She recently starred in Julian Fellowes’ Titanic on ITV.
1) What are you reading at the moment?
I am reading The Return of The Native by Thomas Hardy (in an attempt to make up for not doing English A-Level) and The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin: as I am playing Maria Ternan in the screen adaptation of the tale of Dickens’ love for eighteen year old actress Nelly Ternan.
2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?
I was obsessed with the Adventures Series by Willard Price — I think Amazon Adventure and South Sea Adventure were my faves. I loved learning about the animals that the brothers Hal (total dreamboat) and Roger Hunt captured for their father’s zoo. Amazing.
3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?
Lots of books have made me cry but the one that springs to mind as I have recently re-read it is A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Unrequited secret love + the horror of the French Revolution = me snivelling loudly on a train to Sussex like a prat.
4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take three books. What would you choose?
I would take three copies of the same book; one in English, one in Italian and one in swedish. I might force myself to learn summat.
5) Which literary character would you most like to sleep with?
When I was 11 I wanted to marry Hal Hunt from the Adventure books. I think he’d be old enough now?
6) If you could write a self-help book, what would you call it?
‘The Worthy Whinge: How to write a stonking letter of complaint’
7) Michael Gove has asked you to rewrite the GCSE English Literature syllabus. Which book, which play, and which poem would you make compulsory reading?
The compulsory play would be Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth because its brilliant and modern. Compulsory book — anything by Ian McEwan. And the poem would be If by Rudyard Kipling.
8) Which party from literature would you most like to have attended?
I think I would go down a treat at one of Jay Gatsby’s shindigs.
9) What would you title your memoirs?
Unfortunately I have a terrible memory and I am unlikely to be able to remember any vaguely entertaining anecdotes by the time I am of an age grand enough to have had enough material. So the chances of me writing any sort of memoirs are slim to none. Or I could call it ‘Delusions of Grandeur; Things She Thought She Might Have Done.’
10) Which literary character do you dream of playing?
I would love to play Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady. If only Nicole Kidman hadn’t got there first I mighta stood a chance.
11) What book would you give to a lover?
The last book I gave my boyfriend was not love poetry but a bonsai-tree-care manual. He loved it. Dead practical I am.
12) Spying Mein Kampf or Dan Brown on someone’s bookshelf can spell havoc for a friendship. What’s your literary dealbreaker?
I don’t have a literary dealbreaker as such but a complete lack of books is a somewhat suspect methinks.
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