Fatima Bhutto: ‘For me books are a necessity not a luxury’

Daunt Books in Marylebone was the first bookshop I’d seen where you could search according to country. It was like the curtain lifting and seeing light for the first time. Heaven, for me, is heading downstairs to the South America, Middle East and South Asia sections and having every book you could possibly want, perfectly organised. It’s quieter on that floor, so you can tuck yourself into a cosy nook and be transported from real life.

My love of books comes from my dad [the Pakistani politician Murtaza Bhutto]. Going to a bookshop with him when I was a child was like entering a place of worship. If there was a toy I wanted he’d tell me to wait until my birthday, but he would never say no to a book. His reverence for them has had a ripple effect throughout my life.

I’m usually a responsible consumer, but I can’t leave Daunt without one. I see books as a necessity, not a luxury. Daunt has been a place of refuge whenever I’ve felt lonely, such as during university, or when I was on my own in my 30s. Time would stretch interminably back then. Now I have children, it’s the first place I go for “me time”, even if I have to zip around the shelves. Actually sitting down with a book is a real treat, and takes me back to those early experiences of reading with my father. Also, I have so many of their totes, I never need to buy another handbag.