Successful novelist Graham Swift gave a fascinating insight into what makes him tick after reading extracts from his latest novel The Light Of Day.

The 54-year-old read like a professional actor and the conversational prose in his book is like a stage script.

Swift charmed the audience as he brought the pages of The Light Of Day, involving private detectives and a murder, to life.

Swift is proud of his London roots and has set all his novels, bar one, in the capital. Three of his novels have been turned into films, including the Booker Prize-winning Last Orders, which starred Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins.

He tantalised the audience under the huge marquee in the delightful country garden setting of Charleston with the outcome of his latest novel, saying: "If you want to know what happens next, you know what you have to do."

During the question-and-answer session, he revealed that he sometimes gets up at 5am as he finds the early morning the most creative part of the day. He added he does not write in the hope his novels will be made into films and always refuses to write film adaptations.

I have never read a Graham Swift novel but I will now, following this relaxed evening in the Sussex countryside at Charleston.