I do think that the legacy of the Norman conquest is still strong in Britain. Our hereditary monarchy, our established church, our ancient county structures, though hollowed out in many ways, are a direct result of what happened in 1066.

I’m increasingly attracted by the idea that there can be at least small pockets where life and character and beauty and meaning continue. If I could help protect one of those from destruction, maybe that would be enough. Maybe it would be more than most people do.

It's always hard for an author to determine his own intentions, especially in retrospect.

I think we take the history we want to take in order to back up the stories we want to hear.

In most novels, the landscape, or the place, in which the story takes part is simply a backdrop to the human action.

"Romanticizing the past" is a familiar accusation, made mostly by people who think it is more grown-up to romanticize the future.

Hope, like despair, is something of a distraction: it gets in the way of a clear view of the horizon.