Esther Freud's mother had babies at a time when many unwed mothers in the UK and Ireland had their children taken away. Freud says, 'When I thought about the situation of my mother, it struck me how alone and dangerous her situation was'. In I Couldn't Love You More, she imagines if her mother had been forced into one or Ireland's notorious mother and baby homes. Also David Allan-Petale on writing his first book, Locust Summer, on the road, and Jamie Marina Lau's second novel, Gunk Baby, about a young woman about to open a Chinese ear cleaning business.