I didn't have a sweet tooth, but I liked butter, and I liked sauces, and I liked wine and curry and cheeses.

Of course, I should have done what doctors said and walked for miles every day and not eaten great amounts of butter. But then, life is life, and if we all did what they said we should do, it would be a different world.

I have been lucky enough to travel a lot, meet great people in many lands. I have liked almost everyone I met along the way.

All I ever wanted to do is to write stories that people will enjoy and feel at home with.

Happiness is knowing and appreciating what you've got. I am very, very, very grateful for what, to me, is dead easy.

After my hip operation, I had to cut out butter, which I loved, and salt. I no longer eat desserts with lots of cream, and I've cut right back on alcohol.

You say to yourself: 'What could people, in all these countries, find in my books?' and yet I think we're all the same, anywhere. Everybody is a hero or a dramatic person in their own story if you just know where to look.