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Afua Hirsch introduces us to her favourite female character in literature - Maggie Tulliver from George Eliot’s ‘Mill on the Floss’ – and extracts the lessons we could all learn from her. Recorded at this week’s Hay Festival 2018,

Afua is a writer, broadcaster and journalist; she is also a barrister with a speciality in international development. Her first book, titled ‘Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, was published in January 2018.

In this series of The Essay, five female writers offer a personal guide to favourite and well-known female fictional characters - extracting the lessons we could all learn from them.

The writers in this series include historian Bettany Hughes, poets Fiona Sampson and Mab Jones and award-winning novelist Francesca Rhydderch.

With Lunchtime Concert, In Tune, Free Thinking, The Verb and The Listening Service all broadcasting from the festival, The Essay is part of Hay Week at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3.