It's a natural thing for people to say, you know, Who's in this book? I find myself get ting a little defensive. People come along and I'm waiting for that first question.

I'm a much nicer person since my wife died. I found out what pain is, so on that level I'm much nicer.

Arnold Bennett was a writer I admired. He was actually taking notes at his father's deathbed.

My mother was passionate. She was stubborn, the dominant one in the family. She dominated my father.

I went through life like an idiot for a great deal of the time, saying there's nothing I would change. That was a very arrogant thing to say. There's a lot I would change. There are people I would have steered clear of.

I feel like the writer observing the grief, but it is difficult to be detached from it.

I don't think anyone is the perfect one to play me.