Author

In this page, you can find out why I write.

I like telling stories. I have written quite a lot for magazines but I prefer writing novels; they give me the luxury to examine my own current concerns and preoccupations. I freely admit that I always identify with at least one character per book.

For me, writing novels is a way of trying to understand patterns of behaviour that I find intriguing or weird or morally ambiguous. For example, in my latest novel, Friends, Lies and Alibis, two women feel compelled to try to break up their friend's marriage because they are convinced it is stripping her of her confidence.

In similar circumstances, most of us have been tempted to express views that perhaps we should keep to ourselves. I'm not sure that I have a definite answer to this conundrum: I don't think there often ARE definite answers to moral dilemmas. But I always enjoy exploring the question!

The trouble with writing novels is that one spends vast swathes of time thinking about people who don't exist. If I'm honest, I spend more time thinking about my fictional characters than I do about my own children. I am aware, I promise, that this is a sad and shocking admission, particularly since my children provide me with so much inspirational material.

I come from a large family and I have a large family of my own so perhaps it's inevitable that I'm so fascinated by family dynamics. But then I find relationships between friends and lovers fascinating too and the way that so often small incidents, random conversations or silly misunderstandings can radically alter the course of a life.