I think young children in the Western middle classes are objects of incredible anxiety.

I'm quite interested in the absolute roots of narrative, why we tell stories at all: where the monsters come from.

We do not always like the people we love- we do not always have that choice.

I was raised in a very old fashioned Ireland where women were reared to be lovely.

I think it’s very important to write a demythologized woman character. My characters are flawed. They are no better than they should be.

I have no place left to live but in my own heart.

There's quite a big gap when it comes to that dual identity of mother and child, or even a pregnant woman, or a nursing woman. It kind of begs the question of that very strong Western idea of the individual self.