Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real.
Those who have not been stung will hardly fear a bee the same as those who have.
Aunts offer kids an opportunity to try out ideas that don't chime with their parents and they also demonstrate that people can get on, love each other and live together without necessarily being carbon copies.
Writing about the 1950s has given me tremendous respect for my mother's generation.
I've always had a keen sense of history. My father was an antiques dealer and he used to bring home boxes full of treasures, and each item always had a tale attached.
At the end of the day, that's what a family is - a group of different people who accept each other.
The sky was a sparkling succession of black diamonds on black velvet made crystal clear by the blackout.
The net has provided a level playing field for criticism and comment - anyone and everyone is entitled to their opinion - and that is one of its greatest strengths.
She wishes her grandmother had not been so protective, and that she understood better what passes between a man and woman. As it is, she simply enjoys the feelings and wonders if they are what lightning is made of, for everything comes back to the weather. Tears like rain. Smiles like the sun. Hair as dry as sand and fear like the dark ocean.
At length, when I considered it, I realized that the best of my actions were small things. Picking flowers and cooking food for my mother when she had been unwell, spending an afternoon with the children, sending money to my sister or kissing Henry's tiny head as he slept in the nursery before I left. I thought of every detail and afterwards I felt better. Hellfire and brimstone have never appealed to me and I admit I become easily confused thinking of right and wrong. But I do understand kindness.
A word out of place or an interesting choice of vocabulary can spawn a whole character.
I'm not sure how much easier it is for a mother to balance her life now - have we simply swapped one set of restrictions for another?
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