Seriously, I think what all the puzzling over parenthood I had to do to write [a novel] ROOM taught me is that children can thrive in a remarkable range of situations.

It turns up the heat under a narrative when you limit the characters in their movements or their freedoms.

Maybe I’m a human, but I’m a me-and-Ma as well.

I hate desks; they make me feel like a child doing homework.

I'm named after Jane Austen's Emma, and I've always been able to relate to her. She's strong, confident but quite tactless.

There's not a thing wrong with you, you're right the whole way through.

Nowadays, 'invisibility' was supposed to be the big problem, but the way I saw it was, all that mattered was to be visible to yourself.