You've Got Mail

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It’s in the minutiae of masterpieces that we feel their thrill and power. In this series of The Essay, five leading cultural voices choose a great work of art and talk about a small, underappreciated aspect of the piece that carries great meaning for them. For this edition, the children's novelist and screenwriter Elle McNicoll (A Kind of Spark, Like a Charm) describes the inspiration she has taken from a single line of dialogue in Nora Ephron's much loved romantic comedy 'You've Got Mail', starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Elle describes growing up with Ephron's film collection in the house and gaining a love of New York from 'Nora'. She also remembers how she connected to Ryan's character Kathleen - as a bookseller and advocate for children's literature - through one line spoken in a book store scene. Producer: Sam Peach