Born in Jerusalem, Wadie Said went from being a dragoman to a salesman in the United States and thence to a hugely successful businessman in Egypt.

Grief-stricken. Stricken is right; it is as though you had been felled. Knocked to the ground; pitched out of life and into something else.

Giving presents is one of the most possessive things we do, did you realize that? It's the way we keep a hold on other people. Plant ourselves in their lives.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are.

Mythology is much better stuff than history. It has form; logic; a message.