Revolutionary reads

The author of Eating Air looks at the best stories – from Conrad to Ballard – exploring the lethal excitements of trying to smash the system Pauline Melville's first book, Shape-shifter, won the Guardian fiction prize, the Macmillan Silver Pen award and a Commonwealth Writers' prize. Her first novel was shortlisted for the Orange prize and won a Whitbread prize. She is also an actor – whose work has encompassed roles in Mona Lisa, Utz and Far from the Madding Crowd, as well as appearances in comedies...