Book review: Five Minutes Peace

As her much-adored picture book Five Minutes Peace approaches its 30th birthday, children’s author Jill Murphy reflects on her career, and tells Kate Whiting that her success was never planned.

IF THERE’S one lesson Jill Murphy learned when she was a teen, it was to never give up.

Now 66, she started making miniature books aged six and wrote her famous tale, The Worst Witch, when she was 18 — but had several rejections from publishers.