Once you publish a book, it is out of your control. You cannot dictate how people read it.

I'm interested in the Gothic novel because it's very much a woman's form. Why is there such a wide readership for books that essentially say, 'Your husband is trying to kill you'?

He was deciding whether to cut her throat or love her forever.

How could I be sleeping with this particular man.... Surely only true love could justify my lack of taste.

If a stranger taps you on the ass and says, "How's the little lady today!" you will probably cringe. But if he's an American, he's only being friendly.

For years I wanted to be older, and now I am.

So this was the rest of his life. It felt like a party to which he'd been invited, but at an address he couldn't actually locate. Someone must be having fun at it, this life of his; only, right at the moment, it wasn't him.