As a child, I wanted to marry a farmer, but no doubt the reality would have been very different to the idyll in my head.

We get a lot of overseas people wanting to order cakes.

My mum taught me that redheads shouldn't wear pink, red or orange, but if you choose the right shade, such as a bright orange or a cherry red, it can look fabulous.

I was always very determined, as was my husband, that we wouldn't let any of our children act when they were young.

It makes me upset, if not angry, when people assume that there can be no morality without a religious framework. If there's a moral framework without all that religious stuff, it's more valuable.

I think all good writing is a struggle. To write as well as you feel you can has to be a struggle, almost by definition, because you could always improve.

People ask what the secret of a happy marriage is. If there is one, it's 'don't talk about it.