The inspiration for this book arrived after a long creative drought, during which I came to accept that I would never write another novel. And so, when the green shoots of an idea for The Burrow eventually sprouted, I was surprised and delighted. I no longer took creativity for granted. I wanted to make the most of it, take risks, write toward my greatest fears. The inspiration for The Burrow began with an urge to write about a pet rabbit—like the one my own family had taken in during lockdown—but my rational, non-creative, left brain kept questioning this urge.  Thankfully, around that same time, I read Charlotte Wood’s The Luminous Solution in which she talks about artists writing towards a heat, basically trusting their instinct, and so I gave in to my impulse. And then once I began writing, it just felt right—there were so many layers, so many opportunities for symbolism. I saw how the rabbit both mirrored the anxieties of the Lee family and reflected the way they were learning to read each other’s behaviours and movements. The Burrow taught me to trust the process—that inspiration can take a long time to strike but when it does, it is important to be open and receptive to it.