People who don't read seem to me mysterious. I don't know how they think or learn about other people. Novels are a very important part of our education.

Children often have a much stronger concept of morality than adults.

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 met my second husband on a bus. We looked at each other and that was it. We were both married to other people at the time and behaved badly, but we didn't seem to have any choice. We were very happy for nearly 50 years and would still be together if it wasn't for the bloody railways.

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

I grew up on a suburban street with lace curtains and dull neighbours, so I made up stories to tell my friend, in which they became serial killers and burglars. She told her mother, who then told mine.

All writers are thieves; theft is a necessary tool of the trade.