When I was a child I wanted to be a vet. I'd come home with ""lost"" kittens and dogs. My mother would tell me to put them back.

Although some people think I am a romantic novelist I have always thought of myself as a rather gritty radical historian.

I am in the interesting position of being sometimes skimmed by the critics and called literature and sometimes called historical fiction.

For instance, I have never believed that there is only one person for each person in the world. It doesn't make the least sense to me. However, in reality, I fell in love at 45 and I am absolutely certain that my now husband is the only man in the world for me, a truth I find both ridiculous and uplifting.