I find that when I come out of the library I'm in what I call the library bliss of being totally taken away from the distractions of life.

Although I always said that I wanted to be a writer from childhood, I hadn't actually done much about it until I came to London.

He saw things in a way that others did not, so that a city I had lived in all my life seemed a different place, so that a woman became beautiful with the light on her face.

I have consistently loved books that I've read when I've been sick in bed.

Don't write about what you know - write about what you're interested in. Don't write about yourself - you aren't as interesting as you think.

Younger women tend to be busier, wearing more layers and more make-up. I don't know if it's because older women are more confident, or just that we don't care any more. But that pared-down approach is the same with the sentences I write; I take out adjectives and adverbs and keep the description to a minimum.

I find that when I come out of the library I'm in what I call the library bliss of being totally taken away from the distractions of life.