As the Dauphine stepped out of her carriage on to the ceremonial carpet that had been laid down, it was the Duc de Choiseul who was given the privilege of the first salute. Presented with the Duc by Prince Starhemberg, Marie Antoinette exclaimed: 'I shall never forget that you are responsible for my happiness!

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

I have no plans for a future Jemima Shore mystery, but would write one tomorrow if a good idea came to me.

Ninety-seven is my lucky number.

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

I decided as usual that justice lay in the middle - that is to say nowhere.

[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman.