Starting a new novel is a little like starting a new relationship - you have to be prepared to commit for at least three years and put up with the domestic tedium as well as the emotional highs!

It seems to me that women are freed from their responsibilities only when they are merry widows or eccentric old spinsters.

Memory is a great deceiver: it embroiders until naught is left but the glory and the pleasure.

We cannot choose the times we live in. Just as, sometimes, we cannot choose whom we love.

Death strips all men of dignity.

Intelligence is power; it is the flame behind the spark of intrigue. Find out all the facts and stamp out the fire. Demystify.

Indeed, you become what you eat. In which case I am an onion. Layered, slightly sour and guaranteed to bring tears to the eyes.