Her imperturbable self-confidence (Duchesse de Maine) caused Madame de Stael to write that the Duchesse believed in herself the same way she believed in God, without explanation or discussion.

Ninety-seven is my lucky number.

My advantage as a woman and a human being has been in having a mother who believed strongly in women's education. She was an early undergraduate at Oxford, and her own mother was a doctor.

I think there's a tremendous split between people who've been through a war and people who haven't.

I can't read historical fiction because I find the real thing so much more interesting.

People in my books tend to get their just deserts, even if not at the hands of the police.

The concentration in my book on Marie Antoinette's childhood and on her family influences. It is surprising how some books actually start with her arrival in France!