It's getting better but men still earn more and there are more jobs for them. Ageism is a big thing. Parts for women disappear as you get older.

Jane Austen was an extraordinary woman; to actually be able to survive as a novelist in those days - unmarried - was just unheard of.

I was having my teens in my 30s.

When I think of the future, I think of doing my washing so I've something to wear tomorrow.

Some people have a terrible stretch between family and work. It is a difficult thing to achieve.

I'm writing a novel about two actresses who go to New York, because that's what I know about. One has lost touch with reality, disappears and is picked up by a man.

I'm too young at 50. I'm not grown up yet. There's part of everybody like that.