She should have done science, not spent all her time with her head in novels. Novels gave you a completely false idea about life, they told lies and they implied there were endings when in reality there were no endings, everything just went on and on and on.

Ethics are not necessarily to do with being law-abiding. I am very interested in the moral path, doing the right thing.

Patricia embraces me on the station platform. 'The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,' she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. 'Nonsense, Patricia,' I tell her as I climb on board my train. 'The past's what you take with you.

She was a terrible mother, there was no doubt about it, but she didn't even have the strength to feel guilty.

She doesn't believe in dogs," Bridget said. "Dogs are hardly an article of faith," Sylvie said.

In the end, it is my belief, words are the only things that can construct a world that makes sense.

Alternate history fascinates me, as it fascinates all novelists, because 'What if?' is the big thing.