There were moments when I felt seriously unhinged; when I was convinced that I would never, ever recover from what had happened, when it was absolutely clear to me that life from this point on would be constant agony.

Because there is no meaning to be found in the arbitrary nature of things., It's all random. Just as space is blue. And birds fly through it.

Success is a very fragile veneer. I get wary of people who embrace celebrity. It ruins people.

There were moments when I felt seriously unhinged; when I was convinced that I would never, ever recover from what had happened, when it was absolutely clear to me that life from this point on would be constant agony.

The decision to write full time was made when I was twenty-eight years old and had just had two small plays accepted for BBC Radio.

The only time you truly become an adult is when you finally forgive your parents for being just as flawed as everyone else.

I want to be a popular novelist who's also serious, or a serious novelist who's also very accessible.