When did you start writing and how did you get to it?
I've been writing forever – well, not quite forever, but certainly I've been writing fiction for my own pleasure since I was 11 or 12. I tried writing a novel when I was 14, I remember. I didn't get very far with it (about halfway through the second chapter!) but I was obviously interested in doing that. I suppose I arrived at writing in the same way that most writers do: I had been touched by books.
I always loved reading, and it seemed natural to try to write my own book.
Having said that, it took a very long time before I was producing work I was
really proud of!

Where do you look for inspiration for your writing?
Inspiration can come from anywhere – it's just important to be open to it. I strongly believe in following hunches, in exploring things that tug at you saying 'look at this' without judging in advance where it might lead you or what you think you're doing. Inspiration comes from the book about giant squid you pull down off the shelf in the school library when you're supposed to be doing your homework. It comes from the daydream you have on the bus about the beautiful person sitting opposite you when you're 'supposed' to be reading a novel. It comes from giving yourself room to think, from not thinking that you have to spend all your time doing useful things. It comes from anything that fascinates you and from staring into space. Boredom is very important for inspiration.

What did you find the most difficult about writing Disobedience?
Probably the most difficult thing was the same thing that many first novelists find difficult – just keeping the morale up! Writing a book is a long, lonely business and I found that my confidence in my own ability to actually finish the book would take sudden despairing dips. The lovely thing about having actually published a book now is that at least I no longer worry about my own capacity to produce a finished draft.

When you write a novel, is it an evolutionary process or do you know exactly where you want it to go from the first page?
For Disobedience, definitely evolution not revolution. I started with a short story which I wrote while I was still living in New York – it was about the character who eventually turned into Esti. When I finished that story I found I still had a lot to say, and when I started my Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia I pulled it out and thought, in a rather offhand fashion 'oh, I'll write a novel about this'. The first few chapters just fell out without too much difficulty but I think somewhere around chapter 4 or 5 I started to realize that I needed a much firmer idea of where I was going, so sat down with a big sheet of paper and, over a couple of weeks, planned the rest of the book out in more detail. Having said that, when I came to write the second draft a whole lot of that got taken out and redone. It'd be lovely to think that it was possible to sit down and write a perfect book straight off, but actually most writing is really rewriting, trying to get it right.

What was your reaction at winning the Orange Award for New Writers 2006?
Shock, I think! I was amazed to have got so far, and, on the night, was completely overwhelmed to have won. Since then, I've been able to appreciate what an enormous privilege it is to have been chosen for the award, and to be involved in the Orange Prize in other ways – I'm actually a judge of the same prize for 2007! In terms of my writing, it's really given a boost to my confidence; I'm working on a new book now and the prize buoys me up if ever the writing process gets me down.

Can you reveal anything about your new book?
It's about Oxford, about friendship and love and – I find – about the strangeness of Christianity if you happen to be looking at it from the standpoint of being Jewish. But I don't want to say a lot about it in case I jinx it.

For an extract from Disobedience click here.