Travel books are all sorts - some are autobiographies, some are about falling in love. Some are about having great meals, some are about suffering. There are as many different kinds of travel books as there are novels. People think a travel book is one thing. It's many things.

You can't want to be a writer. You have to be one.

A novel captures essence that is not possible in any other form.

I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely.

The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.

There's a lot of sensuality that I associate with travel. And that's romance.

When I went to Hong Kong, I knew at once I wanted to write a story set there.