“I have worked so hard on not feeling regretful. I think that both my parents had regrets in their lives and they talked about them quite often. Perhaps this was one reason that I had adopted a defeatist approach to many things. I have to work hard each day to live in my now, and not wish for another life. One thing I have found is that my emotions can be quite strong at times, and instead of squashing them with food and crying, which I do as well, I have to remind myself to draw and write and paint them out. Those terrible feelings can become beautiful art.

So the truth is, I can draw these things, they can be cathartic, but I do find some regrets and sadness still linger. And for those, I just need to be mindful each day and let them sit beside me.”

Sarah Lightman talks to Partha Bhattacharjee and Priyanka Tripathi for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. This interview can be read in full here.

The Book of Sarah by Sarah Lightman is available to buy now.