At home I have big vats of cabbage soup that I make to slim down.

I wrote my earliest piece for The Sunday Times about being a young wife.

And I would really like to be a grandmother, but only when Felix or Emily meet the right person and are ready.

I would really like to spend more time with the family. Every time I go abroad I miss them all dreadfully.

I love the long grass coming up to meet the willows.

I live at home and, if I want to start work at 11 o'clock, I can.

I have a theory that the secret of marital happiness is simple: drink in different pubs to your other half.

For sheer sexiness, a man must be beautiful. Funny. yes. Clever, no.

But I always seem to finish a book and then think, oh God, I've got to pay a tax bill, so I'd better write a novel, so I tend not to stop and learn word processing.

I'd never have written the big books in London.

The bank told us we ought to sell this house to pay off our overdraft. Riders saved the day. I was so pleased when it got to number one, I went all around the fields crying and crying.

I think it bespeaks a generous nature, a man who can cook.

You've simply got to go on and on with your family and friends and tell them how much you love them because you never know whether they'll be there tomorrow, do you?

The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness and kindness, can be trained to do most things.

Never drink black coffee at lunch; it will keep you awake all afternoon.