I could see the meal was going to be a success even before anyone had taken a single mouthful: the mood was right, and mood, I am convinced, is the most essential ingredient for any taste to develop. Taste is not a product of the mouth; it lies entirely in the mind.

When it is just yourself you can put things off, you can do away with things; when you have to serve only yourself sometimes you let yourself off: there are no obligations.

I carry more than dreams. There is so much in my head I wonder how I will ever get it out. How do I do it before it is too late? Before I forget what has happened, what I saw, what I thought, what I believed on all those journeys north and south. The hopes, the aspirations, the secret guilt embedded in our shaken lives. Before I give up on the stories that make us who we are and drift with the tide into oblivion like very other sleepy grey head in the world.

I like to know about the world beyond our shores. About faraway countries where people behave differently. I like to hear about their food and customs. How they deal with the cold and the rain. What it is like to drive on the other side of the road.

My novels take much longer to write than they should, partly because I find I cannot decide on the best POV to use until I have written the novel. Only after I know the whole story am I able to work out how best to tell it. And that in turn changes the story. It is a long and laborious process and I haven’t found a short cut.

They are only concerned with thw how, not the why.

A novel means a new way of doing a story.

A novel means a new way of doing a story

Artists can help re-imagine a conflict and start a dialogue.

An aircraft cabin is a place that seems to be nowhere, but I find it steeped in the place left behind and the place ahead.