Why Do Cats Sleep So Much? Perhaps

I Did Feel When My Mother Died If Anyone Was Going To Haunt Me It Would Be Her. And She Hasn't, So I Think It Is Possibly The End.

Fairy Tales Opened Up A Door Into My Imagination - They Don't Conform To The Reality That's Around You As A Child. I Started Reading When I Was Three And Read Everything, But I Wanted To Be An Actress.

I'm A Lapsed Quaker. I Don't Go To Meetings Any More. But I'm Very Drawn To Catholicism - All That Glitter. I'd Love To Be A Catholic. I Think It Would Be Fantastic - Faith, Forgiveness, Absolution, Extreme Unction - All These Wonderful Words. I Don't Think Anyone Who Was Ever Born A Catholic Hasn't Died A Catholic, No Matter How Lapsed They Are.

I Had A Novel In The Back Of My Mind When I Won An Ian St James Story Competition In 1993. At The Award Ceremony An Agent Asked Me If I Was Writing A Novel. I Showed Her Four Or Five Chapters Of What Would Become 'behind The Scenes At The Museum' And To My Surprise She Auctioned Them Off.

Everyone Said, 'well, You're Very Old For A First Novel,' And I Said, 'how Do You Write When You Haven't Lived? How Do You Write When You Have No Experience? How Do You Write Straight Out Of University?