In my first readers I remember it being always sunny, with the occasional shower involving puddles for Peter and Jane or Janet and John. But children love many different types of weather: strong winds;frost;thunderstorms;rain. And life is lived no less in these moments.

When I started writing my dystopian YA novel Catalunya, I realised that in this world climate change had made the planet so much hotter that the sun had become an enemy that needed constant protection from, and that there were few variants in the weather, other than electrical storms and winds. Life would be lived in a very different way. I had made the environment hostile, dangerous and intolerant of my characters. The writing of Catalunya became stronger, less nuanced. Everything was urgent, exposed, more focused. Lowry’s mission is to find the family she was separated from during an asteroid strike, whilst at the same time she is being watched and downloaded for information by a government, El Centro, who believe that she holds The Key, essential for survival.

In Lowry’s world, ice cream is a luxury few have tasted. Beaches are cordoned off and snow is a distant memory. Let’s hope it doesn’t become our memory too.