No, what Great Aunt Winifred was suffering from was the persecution every happily single woman suffers: the predictable social condemnation of her independence and childlessness. Dorothy reminded herself of what she'd learned during a university course on feminist history (with a strong Marxist slant): spinsters are a threat to patriarchy.

This may be the very nature of love, a passion as fickle as the sea, full of certainty when the object of desire is absent, yet dubious when confronted again with the lover's presence.

Information is the mortar that both builds and destroys empires.

Trust is won not given.

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.

As a reader I like both great characterization and fast moving plots. The challenge is to balance the both and not compromise one for the other.