She's a pot-of-tea-before-I-say-boo-to-you woman. There's always a pile of warm teabags in the sink when I come down, like what a horse would leave behind.

The Irish are the niggers of Europe, lads.

Dreaming was only nice while it lasted.

Sometimes adults seem as though they have cut a chord from being a child.

I don't work to any commissions. I do what I want to do.

No matter how close to personal experience a story might be, inevitably you are going to get to a part that isn't yours and, actually, whether it happened or not becomes irrelevant. It is all about choosing the right words.

My novels come from within me; they are things I feel I want to do.