My Concern Is Less The

If I Am Feeling Broken, I Can Pick Up One Of [ivy Compton-burnett] Books And The Next Morning I Can Write Again. It Puts My Mechanism Back.

My First Book Was A Historical Novel. I Started Writing In 1974. In Those Days, Historical Novels Meant Ladies With Swelling Bosoms On The Cover. Basically, It Meant Historical Romance. It Was Not Respectable As A Genre.

My Concern Is Less The Monarchy As Such Than The Attempt Of A Fading Colonial Power To Hang Onto Grandeur.

I Can't Think Of Any Male Politician Who Magnetizes Love And Hate - Mainly Hate - The Way [margaret Thatcher] Did.

I Only Became A Novelist Because I Thought I Had Missed My Chance To Become A Historian.