We're not ourselves, are we? I'm certainly not myself, not anymore. And you're not either. You don't seem yourself. Not as I remember you.

Do you miss her?' 'Who? Emma? Of course. Every day. She was my best friend.

Better by far to be good and courageous and bold and to make difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you

I applied for the University of Life. Didn't get the grades.

My 20s was a sea of worry. I worried about benefit forms, about being thrown out of my flat. I never went on holiday because I thought: 'What if an audition comes up?' I was a nervous wreck.

I know that for every reader who has lost the habit or can't find the time, there are people who've never enjoyed reading and question the value of literature, either as entertainment or education, or believe that a love of books, and of fiction in particular, is sentimental or frivolous.

She wondered if she was doomed to be one of those people who spend their lives trying things.