The whole Melrose series is an attempt to tell the truth, and is based on the idea that there is some salutary or liberating power in telling the truth.

Proust is a hero of mine. I read 'A la recherche' in one go, and I'm a very slow reader. It had an astonishing impact, reading it on my own and being my main company. I think Proust is the most intelligent person to ever have written a novel.

I think that some laughter comes from escaped horror, doesn't it?

Everything was usual. That was depression: being stuck, clinging to an out-of-date version of oneself.

The whole Melrose series is an attempt to tell the truth, and is based on the idea that there is some salutary or liberating power in telling the truth.

It's no use imagining that bringing great writers together inevitably precipitates great conversation.

It seems people spend the majority of their lives believing they're dying, with the only consolation being that at one point they get to be right.