Jane Fallon

“I hope I never become that person who is all about getting Botox.”

“I'm such a solitary person that working on my own is perfect for me.”

“My dad used to cut out newspaper ads and post them to me in the hope I'd get a proper job.”

“I like to dance and throw things around as I cook.”

“I've always worked out, but running pushed bits of me harder than anything else I had ever done.”

“I don't know one end of a car from another.”

“It's a difficult world, and you shouldn't have kids unless you really want them.”

“There's something lovely about writing a book, doing what you want. I love the solitariness of it.”

“The best thing about a British winter is the cold weather, real fires, frosty mornings. I love living somewhere that has proper seasons.”

“I think a lot of people assume you need to be born into a special creative family to have a career as a writer. So I never thought it would happen for me.”

“Painting my nails is the easiest way to look as though I've made an effort.”

“Any situation where I feel like people are looking at me and I've got to speak is the kind of thing I have nightmares about.”

“I rarely go out at night - usually once every two weeks. I'm much happier staying in.”

“I write about messy relationships - between friends, rivals, married couples, siblings. I'm not really interested in boy/girl romances.”

“Even when I was a kid, I was never interested in any of that marriage or baby stuff.”

“Everyone has bits of dysfunction in their families, but I actually have a very nice, happy one.”

“I love the tailoring of '50s- and '60s-inspired dresses.”

“There was something about other people's grief that was so exposing, so personal, that she felt she shouldn't be looking.”

“People always say, 'My family is so normal,' and when you poke into them, they never are.”

“I have a strong say in how my books are marketed, and the covers - I am very firm that I don't want pink and fluffy, or stick figures sitting drinking cocktails. That's simply not appealing to me.”