... the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds.

In the book the relationship with Katharine and Almasy is sort of only in the patient's mind.

If you look at Japanese film, it is made up of collage or bricolage, it is made up of lists, and suddenly when you stand back from the lists you begin to see the pattern of a life.

It's an odd state to be in, blowing the whistle on your home country.

What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.

Every immigrant family, it seems, has someone who does not belong in the new country they have come to. It feels like permanent exile to that one brother or wife who cannot stand a silent fate in Boston or London or Melbourne. I’ve met many who remain haunted by the persistent ghost of an earlier place.

One of the things that happens in novels it's almost like a continual debate with yourself. That's why you're writing the book. It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself.