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

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

As I said, I had no publisher for What a Carve Up! while I was writing it, so all we had to live off was my wife's money and little bits I was picking up for journalism.

For many weeks after [my wife] died, I could not get used to the feeling of coldness and lifelessness on her side of the bed - and it was even worse when they took the body away and buried her.

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

But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.

Well, I like the rain before it falls.