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

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

It was only after five years in the army, when I was having to do a very boring job in a very boring place, that I thought: 'Why not try writing a novel?' partly out of youthful arrogance and partly because there had been a long line of writers in my mother's family.

To begin impatiently is the worst mistake a writer can make

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

The great help of being in the Army is to understand why are the armies clever in what they describe as emotional intelligence, making soldiers come to terms with the death of comrades by certain rituals.

The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that.