I love hearing details of writers' craft, as cannibals eat the brains of clever men to get cleverer.

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

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.

My mother was a politician in my formative years.

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

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 realize that I had always in my heart of hearts planned to write a biography of Marie Antoinette.