Writers tell us about their favourite book: the book that inspires or touches them, that set their artistic, moral or intellectual compass. In short, the book they would recommend to everyone. Interview: Sophia Blyden.

Forugh Karimi chose Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (Le deuxième sexe) as her favourite book: an essay, published as a two-volume book, which Simone de Beauvoir wrote in 1949 at the age of 41. It is one of the best-known works of feminism and is considered the founding text of the feminist movement in France. The philosopher describes how women are encouraged from an early age to make themselves small and to passively serve the desires of others.