This week’s Inheritance Books are from Robert Bryndza, creator of the Coco Pinchard series. 

Hi Robert, welcome to Inheritance Books. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi Rhoda – thanks for welcoming me here to inheritance books. I’m the author of the best selling Coco Pinchard series of books, which are a mix of women’s fiction and humour.

I grew up in a small seaside town in the UK, but when I was seven my parents took me and my sister to live in Canada for a year. I will always be grateful for this. It was such a life changing adventure to go from living in safe British suburb, to a house in the mountains of British Columbia.

The one thing I remember about our year was that we seemed to have so much more time. The pace of life was slower, and this is when I began to read. My mother had brought a suitcase filled with Enid Blyton books, given to us by my grandad (he worked for a haulage firm, and often had to transport huge deliveries of books with mis-prints to be destroyed. Proofing seemed much more stringent in the 1980s and books were rejected for the tiniest mistake) and I read and read and read, often on the huge sundeck which looked out over a range of moutains stretching away to deep blue silhouettes.

When we returned to the UK, it was just as much as a culture shock to when we left. I had developed a Canadian accent which took several months to melt back into my old British one. I also felt I had changed, I had grown out of Enid Blyton.

 I loved Enid Blyton as a child. Rereading them now, as a parent, I still enjoy them. So, which book have you inherited from a generation above? Why is it special?

The book I inherited is Adrian Mole From Minor To Major. It was given to me by my English teacher when I was fourteen. Miss Williams encouraged us all to have opinions, and to question the world. Her lessons were so exciting and they never seemed like school work!

One day, I noticed she was carrying this book with her when she moved between classrooms. I’d never heard of the Adrian Mole books by Sue Townsend, and Adrian Mole From Minor To Major, the book she was carrying, is an anthology of the first three books in the series. I was incredibly touched when she gave me her copy saying I must read it.

Not only are the books funny and touching, but they are a sharp satire of the social and poitical situation in Britains in the 1980s. As well as making me laugh, the book made me see my life in Britain in a whole new light. It made me think about the class system, and my place in it – and it made me question things I had accepted as the norm. I still re-read this book all the time, and it really inspired my writing. This book is now out of print and as of yet hasn’t been released digitally, so it feels all the more precious to me.

Adrian Mole! Brillo-pad! Which book would you leave to generations below? Why?

I would leave my copy of Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby.  It’s such a funny and original story, but it also carries a profound message, that we British people should always remember, that life isn’t set in stone, you can change things about your life and follow your dreams!

 Thanks for sharing your Inheritance Books with us, Robert. I hope Coco Pinchard continues to have great success!

Robert’s book Coco Pinchard, The Consequences Of Love and Sex is available now. You can find out more about Robert at www.robertbryndza.com on Twitter at @RobertBryndza or Facebook facebook.com/bryndzarobert. Or, for a far more interesting option, you can now follow Coco Pinchard on Twitter at @CocoPinchard