In more static societies, like Ireland, you can tell where a person is from by their surname, or where their grandparents are from.

To be able to have the space to sit down and write has always been my central policy.

I’m really lucky with the people around me. They know me, so they don’t confuse the issues really. They know what a book is and they know who I am and they know the difference between the two.

My kids are supposed to live till they are one hundred. You don't have to have a perfect house or a perfect relationship with your child or a perfect child, and you yourself do not have to be perfect.

I love the characters not knowing everything and the reader knowing more than them. There's more mischief in that and more room for seriousness, too.

I think writers worry that you might not exist in some strange way if you're not writing.

When I'm working, I'm not so much disciplined as obsessive. I have this feeling that I need to clear everything away and get this down.