'I sold my book the week after I'd had a miscarriage. It was a very extreme time of life because I'd had this incredibly devastating loss'

"It was kind of amazing," Mellors says, of those fateful few years, via a Zoom from London, where is currently touring. "I mean, getting sober massively helped me on a completely practical level - I am not someone who was productive when hungover multiple days a week, when you're just trying to get through the day."

"[In getting sober], I got a little more time because I wasn't out until 4am anymore, and was going for yoga at 8am and thinking, 'Wow, I can't believe people live like this.'"

Read at Independent