He suddenly became convinced that if he didn’t do something sensible, something to put his mind to some use, then before he knew it he would be wondering round the streets having fights with himself and inviting domestic animals to social occasions too.

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.

Just because a man glances up at the sky at night does not make him an astronomer, you know.

With the adult ones, I feel I need to get as deep inside the psychology of a character as I can, and that needs to be first-person. In the children's books, I feel I need some distance. I don't want to be the nine-year-old at the center of the story. I need to have some type of narrative voice.

Don't make it worse by thinking it's more painful than it actually is.

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.

It is possible, you know, to drift off to an unknown world and find happiness there. Maybe even more happiness than you've ever known before.