Writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths: ‘There’s a strength you don’t realise you have access to’

Rachel Eliza Griffiths arrives at the ’s offices and I tell her at once, as I greet her, that I recognise her from the striking publicity photo at the back of the proof copy of her debut novel – our reason for meeting. Lady Rushdie, known as Eliza, is Salman Rushdie’s fifth wife and is understandably mindful of the risk that she might find herself defined by her marriage or that her own achievements might get sidelined – Rushdie is, after all, a literary celebrity on a scale against which most first-time novelists would not wish to compete. But even before meeting her, the intensity, fluency and scope of her novel and of her award-winning collection of poetry – illustrated by her own photographs – hints at