As a writer, I am constantly aware that I take my life in my hands with everything I do and say. It's just a fact of life. For me it always has been.

When we aren't collectively imagining hopeful futures, then the way things are going almost invariably seems negative and frightening.

I would have bet money that Britain would not vote to leave the EU, and I would have been wrong. I would have bet money that Trump would not have been the Republican nominee, and I would have been wrong and I certainly would have bet money that he wouldn't win the election.

I really do believe that people surprise you. And one of the powerful things about novels is that they're about characters, and those characters live their lives.

When the uncertain future becomes the past, the past in turn becomes uncertain.

With movement, families get split. With the politicization of religion, spirituality gets diluted. With people intermarrying and falling in love outside of pre-existing defined groups, the tribe is disappearing. I'm not in favor of going back to those things, but you can't take those things away without putting something new in its place. So finding a way to make transience more acceptable, even beautiful is key.

Childbirth changed my perception of my wife. She was now the bloodied special forces soldier who had fought and risked everything for our family.