Today my ward round finished early and I was drinking coffee with the team. I sat there listening quietly as the doctors twenty years my senior discussed topics such as the late Queen’s life, what life was like before the internet and their wonderful stories from decades practicing as a physician. As a student, my participation in this conversation was limited: they were all full-time doctors before I was born and I could not relate at all to the world that they were discussing.

However, by some luck, the topic of books arose and titles such as Harry Potter and The Alchemist began to be discussed and I felt myself contributing to these topics, slowly at first, then more eagerly, and the doctors welcomed my enthusiasm. Our little discussion grew into a passionate affair and I began to feel a kinship in our little discussion, for at that moment, our united interest in fiction seemed to break down hospital power dynamics and we were able to debate and share opinions not as student to consultant, but as reader to reader.

One of the deepest powers of literature is the ability to touch people universally, across generations and time.