Patrick Flanery, novelist: 'Marilynne Robinson writes about faith in a way that unbelievers like me can understand'

The author discusses Lydia Davis, Proust, and cracking the clean office code

Flanery says: 'It's impossible to choose just one author, and a favourite one day can become a trial the next.'

Where are you now and what can you see?

At my desk, watching wind tear through the branches of a horse chestnut.

What are you currently reading?

Lydia Davis's most recent short-story collection, Can't and Won't, which makes anything seem possible creatively, and Percival Everett's Erasure, one of the smartest books of the past 15 years.

Choose a favourite author and say why you admire her/him

It's impossible to choose just one, and a favourite one day can become a trial the next. Right now, though: Don DeLillo for his attention to form; Penelope Fitzgerald for her concision; William Maxwell for his melancholy; Proust for his wit and expansiveness; and Marilynne Robinson for writing about faith in a way that an unbeliever like me can understand.

Describe the room where you usually write

My study is a small room with four large bookcases and a north-facing window that looks out on a communal garden. A glass-topped table serves as a desk, a smaller table stacked on top lets me stand to work. I have not cracked the clean office code, but there is a span of blank wall where my eye can rest, which is important for the work.

Which fictional character most resembles you?

Clare Wald, the South African writer in my first novel, Absolution, is not my age, sex, or nationality; we have totally different family structures, and almost no experiences in common, and yet we are like each other in every way that matters.

Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for the rigour and progressiveness of her judgments, and for sheer endurance.

Patrick Flanery's new novel is 'I Am No-one' (Atlantic)