I like to joke that I probably hold the world record for rejection letters. Yes, the truth is that I was fed up of being rejected repeatedly, and self-publication was an act of defiance at traditional publishing. But life works in strange ways.

I believe that patterns tend to repeat themselves and there are connections between the past and the present. There is the old proverb that reads, 'You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been'. For me, history is like that. When you take history and combine it with myth, then you get mystery.

What I have found is that, in a family business structure, sometimes what is needed is a sense of discipline rather than creativity. You have to take everyone's ideas and make it work. When you are dealing with money, there is a limitation on how creative you can be.

Happiness is the only thing that when you give it, you get it in return.

Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.

Writing is incidental to my primary objective, which is spinning a good yarn. I view myself as a storyteller more than a writer. The story – and hence the extensive research that goes into each one of my books – is much more important than the words that I use to narrate it.

John Lennon, the extraordinary musician and member of the Beatles, said, ‘When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. ‘They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.

Albert Einstein, said, ‘The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

I want to make sure that my writing grips the reader from the word ‘go.’

Winning is not only about strengthening yourself; it’s also about weakening the enemy.