I hate the only one of my book jackets when I was made up professionally, my hair made into a smooth bell.

Lives in previous centuries for women are largely a matter of class. It would have been fun to have been a rich, privileged woman in the 18th century, but no fun at all to be her maid.

I'm glad I was never an heiress.

That is my major concern: writers who are in prison for writing.

Ninety-seven is my lucky number.

Mary Queen of Scots was my first love, and that is always something special.

I am re-reading Henry James as a change from history. I began with Daisy Miller, and I've just finished Washington Square. What a brilliant, painful book.