Acclaimed novelist Helen Dunmore talks about her latest novel Birdcage Walk, set in her home town of Bristol against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Lizzie a hot headed young woman is forced to confront the differences between her idealistic mother and man-of-action husband. Once again Dunmore creates her trademark mix of ordinary lives played out in tumultuous times, also seen in books like The Siege and A Spell of Winter. Lizzie's husband faces ruin and her family are forced to question their ideals thanks to the long shadow cast by events in France. Helen Dunmore also talks movingly about being diagnosed with a serious illness while writing this novel, and how that affected her work. Show less