Phoebe was born in 1990, the daughter of Anna, a direct marketing consultant, and Max, a teacher. Max switched careers in the late 1990s, after a nervous breakdown; he now practises as a Jungian psychotherapist in an all-male clinic specialising in male identity disorders.

Phoebe, who has a brother, Tacitus, 3, conceived via Aid (artificial insemination by donor), divides her time between her mother's flat in Brighton and the satellite village outside Manchester where Max lives with his new girlfriend, Zara. Phoebe, a fanatical vegetarian, attends Wallbank, a selective-entry grammar school, where she is specialising in sciences.

Her best friend, Naïma (mother French, father West African), lives in Holland. Phoebe has a virtual boyfriend, Silas, who lives in Burkina-Faso.

Email Phoebe at phoebe@sunday-times.co.uk