A writer's work may be a coded autobiography, but only a very close friend could decipher it.

One good reason for writing novels based on your life is that you have something to read in old age when you've forgotten what happened.

I've never found it made the slightest difference being a woman - though there is a sort of feeling that as you get older you're not so interesting.

I met Richard Burton, an RAF cadet on a two-term course. I would have flirted more enthusiastically if it had not been for the horrid boils on the back of his neck.

Ten thousand pounds is the legal value of a negligently taken life, of a child or a parent. A cold and somewhat mean-spirited calculation: you would do better if you slipped on a paving-stone and broke a front tooth.

I like writing for children. It seems to me that most people underestimate their understanding and the strength of their feelings and in my books for them I try to put this right.

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