In terms of people that I know, my grandmother and my mother are huge influences on my writing life because they are both massively supportive and always have been of my career.

I like dark subject matter. I'm not sure what that means about me!

When men die, they die in fear", he said. "They take everything they need from you, and as a doctor it is your job to give it, to comfort them, to hold their hand. But children die how they have been living - in hope. They don't know what's happening, so they expect nothing, they don't ask you to hold their hand - but you end up needing them to hold yours. With children, you're on your own. Do you understand?

Wash the bones, bring the body, leave the heart behind.

My road to publishing actually came through a colleague who connected me to my agent, and the faculty at Cornell was very supportive.

death should be celebrated...when you put something in the ground you always know where it is

I think the mythology of death really ran away with me when I was very young.