I grew up in a very British family who had been transplanted to Canada, and my grandmother's house was filled with English books. I was a very early reader, so I was really brought up being surrounded with piles of British books and British newspapers, British magazines. I developed a really great love of England.

Although it is pleasant to think about poison at any season, there is something special about Christmas, and I found myself grinning.

One of the marks of a truly great mind, I had discovered, is the ability to feign stupidity on demand.

I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh.

The very best people are like that. They don't entangle you like flypaper.

It is not unknown for fathers with a brace of daughters to reel off their names in order of birth when summoning the youngest, and I had long ago become accustomed to being called 'Ophelia Daphne Flavia, damn it.

Whenever I'm out-of-doors and find myself wanting to have a first-rate think, I fling myself down on my back, throw my arms and legs out so that I look like an asterisk, and gaze at the sky.