It seems to me that you would have to write a novel on a very small, intimate scale for it not to become political.

Some people don't realize that a straight 'No' can be the kindest answer in the world.

My only regret is that I signed away the world rights and in America they've been far and away my most successful books, but I never saw a cent from any of it.

Revisionist historians are about to get their hands on the Thatcher years, shes probably going to be looked at again because she feels far enough away now, and we dont see her much on the political landscape in this country, shes kind of disappeared and she doesnt speak out much anymore.

I like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history.

Writers never feel comfortable having labels attached to them, however accurate they are.

The plain fact is that she never really liked me, and never wanted me. I had been a mistake; and that, to some extent, is what I remain in my own eyes, to this day. The knowledge never goes, can never be undone. You just have to find a way to live with it.