I've nothing against kids reading anything they please, but I do have a problem with pink books for girls and black books for boys.

A little tantrum in real life seems so much bigger online.

All those moments, those memories. Everything that we are, compressed in just two or three kilos of paper — the weight of a human heart.

I'm not fond of cities: the constant activity and swarms of people.

Nat Parson says it's the devil's mark." "Nat Parson's a gobshite." Maddy was torn between a natural feeling of sacrilege and a deep admiration of anyone who dared call a parson 'gobshite.

One of the things that writing has taught me is that fiction has a life of its own. Fictional places are sometimes more real than the view from our bedroom window. Fictional people can sometimes become as close to us as our loved ones.

I've nothing against kids reading anything they please, but I do have a problem with pink books for girls and black books for boys.