She had that thing most people don't have - curiosity. She might not have always got the right answers, but she wanted to ask the questions. It's very hard if you are interested in ideas and all that, ideas and the philosophies of the past, it's very hard to find someone around here to really talk to. That's the tragedy of the thing really I mean, when you think about it. Certainly I can't find anyone around here to talk to anymore. And for a woman it's even harder you see. They can feel very trapped - because of the patriarchy. I do feel everyone needs to have these little chats now and then.

(and Catholics give out forgiveness at about the same rate as politicians give out promises and whores give out)

It's got two aspects. The bit that involves the public life I could not really tolerate and cannot really tolerate. I just can't get used to the idea of being somebody unreal in people's minds. I can't live my life like that.

I like books that don't give you an easy ride. I like the feeling of discomfort. The sense of being implicated.

But surely to tell these tall tales and others like them would be to spread the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect.

Fate is a quantity very much like TV: an unstoppable narrative, written, produced and directed by somebody else.

First rule of writing: When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.