I read a lot of biographies and books with an African background.

There's nothing so aphrodisiacal for a woman as money and success.

My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes.

beware of your most implacable enemy-yourself.

I wanted to be a great white hunter, a prospector for gold, or a slave trader. But then, when I was eight, my parents sent me to a boarding school in South Africa. It was the equivalent of a British public school with cold showers, beatings and rotten food. But what it also had was a library full of books.

Let it simply be said that we know more about the details of the hours immediately before and the actual death of Jesus, in and near Jerusalem, than we know about the death of any other one man in all the ancient world.