A lot of people stop short. They don't actually die but they say, 'Right I'm old, and I'm going to retire,' and then they dwindle into nothing. They go off to Florida and become jolly boring.

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 always read that men don't like intelligent girls, but I've always found the reverse.

I have a garden, and I'm passionately interested in young people.

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

It seemed sensible to move to a market town where I could walk everywhere.