I Like Beryl Bainbridge A Great Deal,

I Wish I Got A Lie-in On Saturday Mornings But I Never Do.

I Started Writing 'brick Lane' When My Children Were Two Years And Five Months Old. We Were On Holiday In The North Of England When I Was Overtaken By A Compulsion To Start Writing.

Writing Is A Deeply Immersive Experience. When The Words Are Flying, The House Could Be Burgled And I Wouldn’t Notice. I Have A Low Boredom Threshold And I Like Intensity – Writing Is A Way Of Escaping The Quotidian.

I Get Really Excited If I Think I'm Going To Introduce Somebody To A Writer They Haven't Found Before And I Think They'll Love. My Favorite Books To Get As Gifts Are Any That The Giver Is Messianic About.

I Guess There's A Sort Of Cycle With Writing Books. There's All The Researching And Then The Imagining And Writing - Which Is The Real Job - And Then There's Always A Period When The Book Comes Out And You Have To Lift Your Head And Venture Out.