I will say I am the sum of my books.

An autobiography can distort; facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies: it reveals the writer totally.

I really wasn't equipped to be a writer when I left Oxford. But then I set out to learn. I've always had the highest regard for the craft. I've always felt it was work.

Writers should provoke disagreement.

I profoundly feel that people are letting you down all the time.

All the details of the life and the quirks and the friendships can be laid out for us, but the mystery of the writing will remain. No amount of documentation, however fascinating, can take us there.

It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.