That image of the countryside being a threatening place still exists. People continue to resist the challenge of learning about aspects of life they don't understand.

I have deliberately left Sylvester and Julia's appearances to the reader's imagination.

I never really know the title of a book until it's finished.

People try much less hard to make a marriage work than they used to fifty years ago. Divorce is easier.

I was sent to a finishing school, which didn't last long when mother found out how badly chaperoned we were. Then I 'came out' before going to a domestic science school.

I remember the evacuee children from towns and cities throwing stones at the farm animals. When we explained that if you did that you wouldnt have any milk, meat or eggs, they soon learned to respect the animals.

We're all like children. We may think we grow up, but to me, being grown up is death, stopping thinking, trying to find out things, going on learning.