Right - Author Nicole Trope. Photo: James Rice

The Women's Room - Marilyn French
This 1977 novel became an iconic text of the feminist movement. I read it in the midst of my first serious relationship, which I assumed would lead to marriage, and reread it every night for months. I was terrified that I was doomed to repeat the women's mistakes and surrender my sense of self. Eventually I realised I needed to ditch the man. I also needed to read a different book.

The Fat Woman's Joke - Fay Weldon
This was Weldon's first novel and the first I read, and it was a revelation. Weldon spares her characters nothing in this brilliant deconstruction of a marriage. I believe Weldon is one of the greatest writers in the world today. Before reading her work I had treated my characters carefully. This novel and all her other books taught me not to spare anyone's feelings - even my own - when I am writing.
Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett
A book that introduced me to the indefatigable Commander Vimes and his band of misfits, beginning a lifelong love of Pratchett's work and the Discworld. I read everything Pratchett had written before this novel and haven't ever missed a new book. It is a singular experience to find an author you love and whose characters come to feel like old friends. Pratchett is the master of his genre.

Still Alice - Lisa Genova
Alice is an intelligent and gifted woman who is suddenly struck down with early onset Alzheimer's disease. The novel changed my point of view on the disease and dragged me into Alice's crumbling world through Genova's simple, insightful style. Alice's ever-diminishing lists to herself had a profound effect on my understanding of what it must be like to literally lose your mind.

Sleeping Dogs - Sonya Hartnett
A short and shocking novel; the end is brutal and takes your breath away. It completely altered my perspective on appropriate subject matter for young adult literature. Hartnett's unflinching exploration of a dysfunctional family stayed with me long after I had finished reading it. I will always admire Hartnett's ability to make the reader uncomfortable but unable to stop reading.

Nicole Trope is a former high school teacher with a master's degree in children's literature. Her second novel for adults, Three Hours Late, is a gripping tale of suspense and terrible secrets published by Allen & Unwin.