I never wanted to write. I just wrote letters home from a kibbutz in Israel to reassure my parents that I was still alive and well fed and having a great time. They thought these letters were brilliant and sent them to a newspaper. So I became a writer by accident.

You can't lay down laws for what people think and hope.

I'm an escapist kind of writer.

I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you're going to be an Irish writer.

If you woke up each morning, and immediately dwelt on your ills, what sort of a day could you look forward to?

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

My father went to work by train every day. It was half an hour's journey each way, and he would read a paperback in four journeys. After supper, we all sat down to read - it was long before TV, remember!