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.

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.

The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson's.

As soon as you start writing about how human beings interact with each other socially, you're into politics, aren't you?

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.

The biggest markets for my books outside the UK are France and Italy, and those are the two countries where I also have the closest personal relationships with my translators - I don't know whether that's a coincidence, or if there's something to be learned from it.