Robyn Doreian

October 25, 2026 — 5:00am

Author Jon Ronson is best known for writing books including The Psychopath Test and Them: Adventures with Extremists . Here, the 59-year-old talks about the women who have influenced his life, including a peripatetic aunt, his wife, Elaine, and Monica Lewinsky , with whom he shared a professional connection.

Jon Ronson’s mother urged him to volunteer at a local radio station, which kickstarted his career. “That was the best thing she did for me.” Emli Bendixen www.emli.co.uk

I grew up in a boring suburban house in Cardiff, Wales. My father, David, managed a warehouse. When I was 19 and had moved to London, my parents bought a hotel. It was a pretty middle-class, non-glamorous life.

My father’s sister, Auntie Mavis, however, was an adventurer. At the age of 19 she and her friend from London went off on a seven-year odyssey. There are photos of her on a shipwrecked beach with opium smugglers.…