To a Brit of my generation, one of the most objectionable things about [Margaret] Thatcher is her falsity. She is a total construct. For one thing, she had a made-over accent.

Much historical fiction that centers on real people has always been deficient in information, lacking in craft and empty in affect.

[Margaret Thatcher] admitted to being the daughter of her father but not the daughter of her mother!

When you are writing laws you are testing words to find their utmost power. Like spells, they have to make things happen in the real world, and like spells, they only work if people believe in them.

I am not a historian. I don't see what I do as being a rival to biography.

It is almost a joke, but a joke that nobody tells.

[Margaret Thatcher] aroused such strong loathing in so many people. That's the fact that interests me.