It was a great escape for me and it was a way to take a break from what was going on in my own world, to go into another world.

Never look at other people's bad fortune,' my mother said. 'If you do, it will come back to find you instead of its rightful owner.

She liked to disappear, even when she was in the same room as other people. It was a talent, as it was a curse.

You can't dispute the ridiculous. You can't argue reasonably with evil.

It was as if hope had appeared out of nowhere to settle beside her and it wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't going to desert her now.

The original fairy tale was about the youngest sister going into a room in the castle and finding all the bodies of the wives that came before her - she is confronted with truth, thinking about how often we think we know people and we really don't.

I also like the whole idea of fairy tales and folk tales being a woman's domain, considered a lesser domain at the time they were told.