Jane Austen, Tolkien, Ernest Hemingway, Georgette Heyer, C. S. Lewis, Patrick Leigh Fermor and John Buchan all received mention, as did William Boyd, Anne Tyler, John Grisham, J. K. Rowling, both the Trollopes – Anthony and Joanna – and Dickens.

After some general discussion about books – a useful way of getting everyone to contribute, Catherine found – she asked them to get their pens and paper ready.

‘Now,’ she said, ‘I call this exercise “I remember” and some of you may even like to start with those words, but the whole point is to go with what feels right to you. Again you may find it helpful to write in the present tense – some people don’t like that, but it often has the effect of making your writing very immediate, very live. If you’re not comfortable with it, then that’s fine, don’t use it, but it’s a powerful tool. What I do want you all to do is to relive some defining moment in your lives – it could be a vivid early memory, nice or nasty; an encounter with a particular person; a moment of extreme happiness or fear; it could be something quite inconsequential. Use whatever springs immediately to mind no matter how surprising or even trivial. Don’t stop to think, just dive in. I want you to keep your hand on the page and keep it moving. Don’t stop to re-read what you’ve put or allow your inner editor to take over. Plenty of time for that later. You’ve got about twenty-five minutes, but forget about the clock because I will tell you when to stop, and when I do ask you to stop please put your pens down. Then I’ll give you another few minutes just to finish a sentence but nothing more – we’re not looking for polished work at the moment. If something scary or difficult or unexpected comes up – go with it. Right. Start now please.’

For the next twenty minutes the only sound in the room was the furious scratching of pens on paper, the ticking of the clock and occasionally some rather heavy breathing. When Catherine called ‘Time!’ none of them could believe that ten let alone twenty-five minutes had gone by and they protested that they had only just begun.

‘Good,’ said Catherine after giving them another five minutes to complete their sentences. ‘You all looked as if you were getting something down on paper, which is wonderful. I think we’ll take our break a bit early this morning so that we have time to share our writing before lunch. Let’s meet back here in twenty minutes.’

After a break for coffee, the group reassembled and Louisa found herself walking back to the conference room with Christopher.