I'm not trying to uncover the facts of my life but to discover the dramatic truth of the situations I was in.

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

I'm not trying to uncover the facts of my life but to discover the dramatic truth of the situations I was in.

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.

Detachment is what interests me, seeing how people couldn't have been any other way, how they were the product of forces that they had no control over.

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.

The first book I fell in love with was 'Little Toot,' the story of an adorable tugboat operating out of New York Harbor.