Susie

This article contains spoilers for the series finale of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the Emmy-winning Prime Video comedy series that concluded its five-season run on Friday, is a story built to fight perception.Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a New York City housewife played by Rachel Brosnahan, isn’t supposed to succeed as a comedian because she doesn’t look like someone who would: She’s too poised, too pretty, too educated and — when she’s hired to be the “lady writer” for a late-night host in Season…

My earliest reading memoryI loved a picture book called Story Number 1 by Eugène Ionesco. It showed a louche 1960s household where the mother and father have a great deal of high life and are always hungover. Their maid, Jacqueline, brings them in an enormous tray each morning on which, sandwiched between the ham, eggs, coffee and postcards, crouches their little girl.My favourite book growing upInsane for dancing as a child, I got hooked on Ballet Shoes. There was something about show business being the remedy for…

The novelist and former Guardian journalist Susie Steiner, known for the Manon Bradshaw detective series, has died aged 51.A tweet posted from her account on Sunday said: “Susie died yesterday after being diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago. She lived with her illness with courage and good humour. She was much loved and will be much missed.”Steiner grew up in north London and studied English at university. She went on to train as a journalist and worked in newspapers for 20 years.She joined the Guardian in 2001…