I don't want to get hung up on what 'people,' that nebulous mass, think about me. That's the way to unhappiness, I think.

I wish I got a lie-in on Saturday mornings but I never do.

She touched his hand for the last time. "Oh, Karim, that we have already done. But always there was a problem between us. How can I explain? I wasn't me, and you weren't you. From the very beginning to the very end, we didn't see things. What we did--we made each other up." p. 382

I rarely get a moment to myself, but I love the way that my agenda is dictated by the children, not my work.

I don't want to get hung up on what 'people,' that nebulous mass, think about me. That's the way to unhappiness, I think.

The thing about getting older is that you don't need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain.

I started writing 'Brick Lane' when my children were two years and five months old. We were on holiday in the north of England when I was overtaken by a compulsion to start writing.