Of course, following the release of the BBC adaptation of her much-loved book earlier this year, it seemed inevitable that the conversation would soon turn to Alderton’s iconic tome.

“I was 28 when I wrote it,” she recalled. “Well, you know, something about the difference between being 28 and 34 just feels like different countries to me. I was just so open in a way that just makes me shudder now. At first, it felt cathartic and it felt exciting and it felt amazing to feel connected to lots of different people, and then it felt scary and I felt self-conscious.”

Noting that she worried she might become a one-hit literary wonder, Alderton added: “After [a success] like that, you worry that that might be your biggest hit or whatever. You worry that you don’t have anything to offer other than just turning yourself inside out, and then you get to this amazing point too that I, thankfully, managed to get to quite quickly, which is: that may well have been [the] biggest thing I ever do and that’s amazing. Like, how amazing that I got to do that at 28. And as long as I can make my peace with that, I’m actually pleased that I did get there because I think some…

“Well, I’ve seen so many writers and creatives and artists be in competition with themselves their whole life, and I wouldn’t be able to do that. And I couldn’t write a book like that again; I couldn’t put myself through it.”

Dolly Alderton gets real about flirting, second dates and writing about exes