My first book was a historical novel. I started writing in 1974. In those days, historical novels meant ladies with swelling bosoms on the cover. Basically, it meant historical romance. It was not respectable as a genre.

When you become published and become a reviewer, piles of books come along and you are pushed by fashion and what you are commissioned to do.

She is very plain. What does Henry see in her?'" "He thinks she's stupid. He finds it restful.

I spend a lot of my time talking to the dead, but since I get paid for it, no one thinks I'm mad.

As a writer, you owe it to yourself not to get stuck in a rut of looking at the world in a certain way.

The more facts I can have, the better. I can operate very nicely between them, but I am not very good at making things up. I am not sure how ethical it is.

I am usually protective of my work, not showing it to anyone until it has been redrafted and polished.