All writers are liars. They twist events to suit themselves. They make use of their own tragedies to make a better story... They are terrible people.

Margaret Thatcher was in my year, and our first-year college photograph shows us standing side by side in the back row. We were both grammar school girls on state scholarships.

Life isn't so complicated for children. They have more time to think about the really important things. That's why I occasionally moralise in my children's books in a way I wouldn't dare when writing for adults.

All writers are liars. They twist events to suit themselves. They make use of their own tragedies to make a better story... They are terrible people.

People's lives are in the care of the railways when they get on a train. The railways should remember that.

I dislike the word 'victim.' I dislike being told that I 'lost' my husband - as if I had idly abandoned you by the side of the railway track like an unwanted pair of old shoes.

I would hate to live in the country, unless I was living on a farm.