I think some people wished I'd kept myself out of the book. But I kind of insist on it because I want the reader to share my engagement with the material, if you like, not pretend that I'm doing it completely intellectually.

I like poking my nose into other people's lives.

But there are some wounds that can never be healed.

The only thing that I was equipped for with my very mediocre college Arts degree was to get a job in teaching.

At the time it seemed like a natural development of my interest in what was going on around me in society.

I think some people wished I'd kept myself out of the book. But I kind of insist on it because I want the reader to share my engagement with the material, if you like, not pretend that I'm doing it completely intellectually.

But I can't bear it when somebody who some man made a pass at - to call that violence seems to me absurd and insulting to women who've really met violence, who've been raped or bashed.