My father could talk about the Romany way of life and its culture. He could talk about freedom and the Scottish spirit. But that was all he could talk about. I was desperate for someone to talk to but there was just nobody there.

Writing about the 1950s has given me tremendous respect for my mother's generation.

Very often the characters people respond to best have little parts of reality they can relate to.

I didn't expect to love being online as much as I do. I've met some wonderful people and discovered that however arcane some of my interests that there are people out there who are interested too.

Research material can turn up anywhere - in a dusty old letter in an archive, a journal or some old photographs you find in a charity shop.

History at its best is a gritty, dirty business.

At the end of the day, that's what a family is - a group of different people who accept each other.