Well you've been brought here against your will, just like I have. If you ask me, we're all in the same boat. And it's leaking.

War today is such a more visible thing. We see it on television, on CNN. In 1914, war was a concept. There was a naivety and stupidity that war would be a great lark. It's not that different from Gone With The Wind, where all the young men can't wait to go off to fight and then two hours later in the movie, we see how the reality of that has come home to them.

I started reading Dickens when I was about 12, and I particularly liked all of the orphan books. I always liked books about young people who are left on their own with the world, and the four children's books I've written feature that very thing: children that are abandoned by their families or running away from their families or ignored by their families and having to grow up quicker than they should, like David Copperfield - having to be the hero of their own story.

There is cruelty in the world Eliza, you can see that, can't you? It surrounds us. It breathes on us. We spend our life trying to escape it.

Bruno: We're not supposed to be friends, you and me. We're meant to be enemies. Did you know that?

Their lost voices must continue to be heard.

War today is such a more visible thing. We see it on television, on CNN. In 1914, war was a concept.