Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.

Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.

I think that the Cold War was an exceptional and unnecessary piece of cruelty.

Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

I have reared, or helped to rear, five children and the scariest bit, bar none, is the learning to drive part. It has filled me with anxiety not only about the children, but also about my former self and my friends.

When 'The Awakening' was published it was considered so scandalous it was banned in the author's home-town library, and she herself was barred from the Fine Arts Club in the same city. What the novel has to offer, among other things, is honesty.

There can never be such a thing as a free market, because it is human nature to cheat, monopolize, and buy off others so as to corner the market.