I'd love to see a new form of social security ... everyone taught how to grow their own; fruit and nut trees planted along every street, parks planted out to edibles, every high rise with a roof garden, every school with at least one fruit tree for every kid enrolled.

Very much in my books people find not surrogate families because they are real families. We've got families that we're related to by blood but we've also got families that we acquire. And those too I think are pretty much part of my books.

Often the true hero and heroines of my books are the houses, the places, the communities where people find a home.

Dance, my darling dance! If you dance then death can't catch you! Nothing bad can touch you! Dance!

Lady Dance's music wasn't a magic charm. I'd misunderstood. We had all failed to understand. The song and dance didn't stop us dying. It just stopped the fear of death swallowing us up while we were still alive. 'Rejoice,' came the soft voice of Lady Dance in my mind. 'Watch the moon and stars...' Death had ruled my life till I met Lady Dance. Her dance had set me free.

One of my extraordinary regrets about my death is not so much that it's going to happen but simply that I'll never know what happens next.

The song and dance didn't stop us dying. It just stopped the fear of death swallowing us up while we were still alive.