“The stories are very much a family history. Although I haven’t said who is who in the book. The things that were going on in Iraq at the time were things that were on my mind.”

“Always, I had that in my head: I’ve got to get to somewhere where I’m going to feel fulfilled and love what I’m doing”

“There’s a lot of history that hasn’t been talked about in fiction and that’s quite sad to me. [...] I think there’s lots of rich stories still to explore in that area.”

“I think all of us keep secrets about who we really are.”