26 Quotes by Monique Roffey

I was an observant but dreamy child. I had a lazy eye and wild curls.

My parents had a long and eventful marriage and were always a bit like movie stars to me when they were young.

Long-term heterosexual monogamy is still the dominant model: men and women still want to pair for a long period of time.

Trinidad's language is a fusion of English, African, and French, and so we have our own words and even our own dictionary. Steupse is a common local word, and it's the onomatopoeic word for the sound people make to show disapproval, or to show they are vexed, when they suck their teeth together.

Trinidadians love speaking their own English; it's full of poetic forms and can be playful and lyrical and comical. Trinidadians are verbal acrobats, and I love being on the island just to hear the people speak.

While I am most at home in London, I cannot really label myself as either British or Trinidadian. I write in the English language and live in the U.K. I find it hard to say that I am an entirely British writer, especially when I supported Trinidad in the 2006 World Cup and also support the West Indies cricket team.

Born on an island, I could swim before I could walk, thrown many times into swimming pools and warm transparent Caribbean waters: sink or swim, that was my first lesson. While I'm not a natural athlete, I'm still a strong swimmer and feel a great affinity with the sea.

At the age of 62, my father died of cancer - it was much too soon. My mother never remarried or got over it, never even thought of another man.

The romantic idealism of my youth has been replaced with realism and hard work at what I love.