Another thing he told his customers was that one of the great accounting unknowns of the modern age was how to value knowledge. It was an exciting field.

Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake up in terror in a way that I would never wake up while working on a novel.

I have noticed before that there is a category of acquaintanceship that is not friendship or business or romance, but speculation, fascination.

The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel.

If there's anything Trollope novels always take seriously, it is money - how it flows from one character to another, how it is managed, who has it, who deserves it, and what it means to a character, male or female.

Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.

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