Death is never very pretty.

Yes, think what a lot of nonsense one can figure out with plenty of time. Brooding is the mother of ineffectiveness.

We always had money problems. Sometimes I would lie awake at night wondering how to pay the rent.

When I was 11, I realised that I did not have to live the life my mother had: school, marriage, children, apartment, summer house.

Sweden is a small country, and a Swedish writer can barely make a living as an author. We were able to quit our jobs as journalists only after we had been translated into, among others, German.

You get tough when you grow up unloved. People described me as a boyish girl - rather shy, but I didn't show it. I had an attitude. I was rather wild. I lied a lot because I knew the alternative was to be punished. As I got older I realised I didn't have to lie any more and it was a nice feeling. I could be myself.

People read more mysteries than they do political pamphlets.