Writers are magpies, and we collect details about people and we use them for fictional characters.

Housewives of the 1950s were supposed to create show-stopping meals every night for their hard-working husbands.

I think it's crucial to live, play and work passionately. I'm inspired by my husband, my son and the sense of possibility in the world.

Writers are magpies, and we collect details about people and we use them for fictional characters.

E-readers are changing the way we read, and the author is now required to get out there and be a kind of showman, an unlikely role for introspective people used to working in their pajamas!

I just love that feeling of being in another world, of creating characters and watching where they go.

I always think that in a big city, anything is possible, including reinventing yourself.