At 20, 25, 30, We Begin To

There Was A Time In My Life When I Was Going In And Out Of Houses That Were Extraordinarily Different - From A Working-class Terrace In Northampton To The Homes Of Friends Who Were Really Very Wealthy. It Was Quite An Odd Position To Be In, I Realise Looking Back, And Quite A Nice One.

If You Enjoy Math And You Write Novels, It's Very Rare That You'll Get A Chance To Put Your Math Into A Novel. I Leapt At The Chance.

I Am Atheist In A Very Religious Mould. I'm Always Asking Myself The Big Questions. Where Did We Come From? Is There A Meaning To All Of This? I Read The King James Bible, As All English Writers Should. And When I Find Myself In Church, I Edit The Hymns As I Sing Them.

I Have Very Fond Memories Of Swimming In Walden Pond When We Lived In Boston. You'd Swim Past A Log And See All These Turtles Sunning Themselves. Slightly Disturbing If You Thought About How Many More Were Swimming Around Your Toes, But Also Rather Wonderful.

I Suffer Depression Only In The Sense That I Am A Writer. We Don't Have Proper Jobs To Go To. We Are On Our Own All Day. Show Me A Writer Who Doesn't Get Depressed: Who Has A Completely Stable Mood. They'd Be A Garage Mechanic Or Something.