The British Have Always Made Terrible Parents.

I'm A Novelist, Not A Social Scientist Or A Commentator.

Hope Is Like One Of Those Orchids That Grows Around Toxic Waste: Lovely In Itself - And An Assertion, If You Like, Of Indefatigable Good - But A Sure Sign That Something Nasty Lies Underneath.

A Feminist Man Is A Bit Like A Vegetarian: It's The Humanitarian Principle He's Defending, I Suppose.

An Eating Disorder Epidemic Suggests That Love And Disgust Are Being Jointly Marketed, As It Were; That Wherever The Proposition Might First Have Come From, The Unacceptability Of The Female Body Has Been Disseminated Culturally.

I Have No Sense Of A Model Or Predecessor When I Write A Memoir: For Me, The Form Exists As A Method Of Processing Material That Retains Too Many Connections To Life To Be Approached Strictly And Aesthetically. A Memoir Is A Risk, A One-off, A Bastard Child.