An Aunt is a safe haven for a child. Someone who will keep your secrets and is always on your side.

At length, when I considered it, I realized that the best of my actions were small things. Picking flowers and cooking food for my mother when she had been unwell, spending an afternoon with the children, sending money to my sister or kissing Henry's tiny head as he slept in the nursery before I left. I thought of every detail and afterwards I felt better. Hellfire and brimstone have never appealed to me and I admit I become easily confused thinking of right and wrong. But I do understand kindness.

I'm a library user and I just don't hoard books. To me, they're for sharing.

The sky was a sparkling succession of black diamonds on black velvet made crystal clear by the blackout.

Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real.

A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character.

A book is a story, even if it's non-fiction, and once I've read it, I have the story with me inside my head always.