I'm always determined that as a novelist I'm going to go out there and research my characters very thoroughly before I start writing.

I planned how I would kill myself in the time of Churchill (stand under bombs), Victoria (throw myself under a horse), and Henry the Eighth (marry Henry the Eighth)- Little Bee

We leave it up to books and movies to talk about WWII on our behalf.

I'm really interested in people's decisions.

Everyone carries the weight of WWII with them in their recent family history, and yet it is rarely spoken about within families, because veterans and survivors don't tend to talk.

Studying psychology is fun because you're always looking for the same things I think a writer should be looking for, which is the story behind the story.

It is easier for a rich person to act on their principles than it is for someone with fewer choices (which is why it is all the more disappointing when a wealthy person plays to the crowd).