Phoebe Waller-Bridge and what she reads, including Daphne du Maurier
Images of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her most well known work, Fleabag
Actor and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the subject of an article written by Simran Sukhnani for Times Now today, 15th October 2025. Times Now is a platform that provides comprehensive and analytical news reports from all that's happening around the world.
In Simran's article, Phoebe talks about the books on her reading list, which she describes as:
Books to break your heart, piss you off and make you think.
Here is how Simran describes the books on Phoebe's reading list:
All of the books on Phoebe's reading list have one thing in common: these are not ordinary stories. They have no polished heroes but distorted characters trying to navigate through life. There are no tidy and clean happy endings. They are books that read like conversations in the dark under the covers, honest, loud, powerful and deeply uncomfortable. They haunt you, and they ask you questions you didn't know you wanted to ask.
Examples of books on Phoebe's list include:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
and
The Blue Lenses by Daphne du Maurier
These are Phoebe's thoughts on The Blue Lenses:
The Blue Lenses by Daphne du Maurier and East of Eden by John Steinbeck both pull at the edges of human nature: desire, jealousy, guilt, family. Phoebe's admitted to a lifelong obsession with beautiful villains, with characters you root for even when they screw up.
Last year, in an interview with Far Out Magazine, Phoebe said that The Blue Lenses was on her list of favourite titles. It is good to see that she is still supporting this remarkable du Maurier short story, which is included in the new Daphne du Maurier book of short stories, After Midnight, which was published last month.
To read the whole Times Now article, please click here:
https://www.timesnownews.com/lifestyle/books/books-to-break-your-heart-piss-you-off-and-make-you-think-phoebe-waller-bridges-reading-list-article-153004206
October 2025.