When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.

When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it.

To begin impatiently is the worst mistake a writer can make

If you smash a city when you're trying to capture it, you actually end up providing the perfect terrain for the defenders while blocking the access for your own armoured vehicles.

The blurring of fact and fiction has great commercial potential, which is bound to be corrupting in historical terms.

The vital thing for me is to integrate the history from above with the history from below because only in that way can you show the true consequences of the decisions of Hitler or Stalin or whomever on the ordinary civilians caught up in the battle.

I just love the days when you come out of the archives with half a dozen excellent descriptions or poignant accounts of personal experiences.