There's something with the physical size of America... American writers can write about America and it can still feel like a foreign country.

...and I went into the garden and lay down and looked at the stars in the sky and made myself negligible.

And Father said, "Christopher, do you understand that I love you?" And I said "Yes," because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me.

I think I've learnt that there is no character so strange that you haven't shared their experience in some small way.

My book has a very simple surface, but there are layers of irony and paradox all the way through it.

There was a time in my life when I was going in and out of houses that were extraordinarily different - from a working-class terrace in Northampton to the homes of friends who were really very wealthy. It was quite an odd position to be in, I realise looking back, and quite a nice one.

Everyone has learning difficulties, because learning to speak French or understanding relativity is difficult.