The Woman Who Thinks She

Having Your Second Child, In Case You Were Wondering, Is A Lot Harder Than Having Your First, Except For Those People Who Find It Easier. I'm Afraid I Don't Have The Latest Figures To Confirm This.

Help Is Dangerous Because It Exists Outside The Human Economy: The Only Payment For Help Is Gratitude.

Hope Is One Of Those No-win-no-fee Things, And Although It Needs Some Encouragement To Survive, Its Existence Doesn't Necessarily Prove Anything.

For Me, A Novel Is Always The Result Of My Attempt To Impose Myself On Raw Circumstances. It Is A Concrete Form Of Lived Experience.

The Reaction To 'aftermath' Has Been Far Worse Than To 'a Life's Work,' Yet I Find I'm Perhaps A Little Less Touched By It. In Both Cases, I've Coped Artistically By Believing The Criticisms Weren't Right. They Upset Me, But They Didn't Challenge My Understanding Of How To Write, Nor Of How Morality Functions In Literature.