You never know," Jack said speculatively. "There may come a time when savages like William Hamleigh aren't in power; when the laws protect the ordinary people instead of enslaving them; when the king makes peace instead of war. Think of that - a time when towns in England don't need walls!

It was an odd relationship, but then she was an extraordinary woman: a prioress who doubted much of what the church taught; an acclaimed healer who rejected medicine as practised by physicians; and a nun who made enthusiastic love to her man whenever she could get away with it. If I wanted a normal relationship, Merthin told himself, I should have picked a normal girl.

I enjoy learning technical details.

Thrillers have been traditionally very masculine books; the women characters often rather decorative.

Why do you have to be the same as the others? ...Most of them are stupid.

My favorite period is World War II, and I'm in the middle of writing my fourth novel set in that era.

Without books I would not have become a vivacious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer.