I need to be in charge, and that comes from when I was growing up and money was always an issue. I didn't want to feel the fear of poverty again, and I suppose, in that way, I qualify as Thatcher Youth.

Having a daughter has reawakened my sense of feminism. I want to protect her.

I'm a woman, and I'm interested in writing stories from a female perspective.

Feminism isn't just for women. It's for men.

I would lying if I said I would laugh in the face of death.

I think the first general point to make from epidemiological studies across millions of people is the following - that short sleep predicts a shorter life. It predicts all cause mortality.

At the age of 16, my father's father dropped dead of a heart attack. And I think it changed the course of his life, and he became fascinated with death. He then became a medical doctor and obviously fought death tooth and nail for his patients.

The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.