For me, a novel is always the result of my attempt to impose myself on raw circumstances. It is a concrete form of lived experience.

Leaving things behind and starting again is a way of coping with difficulties. I learnt very early in my life that I was able to leave a place and still remain myself.

What I increasingly felt, in marriage and in motherhood, was that to live as a woman and to live as a feminist were two different and possibly irreconcilable things.

I don't really believe in stories, only in the people who tell them.

I have absolutely no concept of work, except for university. But I like to talk to people a lot about their jobs.

Christianity has kept itself going for centuries on hope alone, and has perpetrated all manner of naughtiness in the meantime.

I absolutely don't dislike children - I would choose their company over adult company any time.