It is one of the benchmarks of a culture I always think – the page at which it operates. A good way to measure it is to order a taxi and see how irate local people get if it is late.

I always thought that bagels and lox was my soul food, but it turns out it's sushi.

Sometimes I create a character from a scrap - a mere mention that has been left behind.

As an historical novelist - there are few jobs more retrospective.

While I'm frustrated at the amount I'm expected to take on in the present, the 1950s woman was frustrated by being excluded - not being allowed to take things on at all.

Scotland just isn't terribly Tory.

I had loved poetry and the theatre. Now I loved adventure more.