“Remember when you read each story, all the work that’s gone into each one!” said Rose Tremain, as she promoted her new collection of short stories.

The American Lover was five years in the making. For her short story The Housekeeper, about the real Mrs Danvers, Tremain read Rebecca, two more novels by Daphne du Maurier, and two hefty biographies. As she said “short does not mean easy” - even for a UEA lecturer in creative writing.

Still, Tremain professes to being “very pleased” with the diversity of stories in the collection, each carefully selected; she hope it stands as a showcase of her writing “and all the writers I am”.

The title story was nominated for the BBC’s National Short Story award, along with stories by Lionel Shriver and Zadie Smith. The result is out on Tuesday.

Tremain sometimes wishes she was PD James, thinking up a new plot for an established character, but she isn’t. Tremain is motivated by inquiry into what it is that gets us up in the morning, developing her understanding of where her own life is at through her writing.

“Our lives turn on very few important moments," she said. Extra Geography, the story she read out, showed this curiosity perfectly.