Q&A

When do you write?  

Between 12 and 7 usually. I am quite disciplined.

Where? 

In my first floor office at my 17th century home in Suffolk at the red-leather tooled Victorian desk we inherited from my husband's grandfather. Books fill a favourite mahogany bookcase, a family heirloom, and the walls are covered with the jackets of the books I've written, favourite cartoons and framed letters and good wishes from friends and family. My notes and papers are spread on an old carved oak desk I inherited from my father

Why do you write?  

It's not as if I have a choice. I have written something – a diary, a poem, a few sentences - almost every day since I was able. I wrote my first play when I was six

Longhand or computer? 

I have been using computers since 1987 and, with shorthand ruining my handwriting,I have virtually lost the ability to write longhand

How do you begin a new book? 

With the smallest germ of an idea. With THE SENSE OF PAPER, it was a chance remark by an artist friend. “I possess the last supply of the very watercolour paper that JMW Turner used,” he told me gravely. “When it is gone, I shall probably die.” He kept his word, and left me with an image so powerful that my first novel began with the passionate character of English artist Alan Matheson whose world collides fatally with that of the troubled former war correspondent Charlie Hudson.

And finish? 

I honestly don't know how a book will end until I come to it. I read about other writers plotting their whole book from the beginning, having a very clear structure about a beginning, a middle and an end, but - apart from a general idea – I prefer to read it as I'm writing it, staring at the screen in wonder as my fingers type the words almost automatically.

Do you have any writing rituals? 

My friend Goldie Hawn first introduced me to Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god and remover of obstacles, when I was working on her autobiography with her. My husband found me a beautiful silver Ganesh in a little shop in Stonington, Connecticut, which sits at my side. Whenever I am having a bad day, I reach out and rub its little feet, just in case there's any truth in it

Which living writer do you most admire?  

E Annie Proulx. I don't even feel worthy to read some of her best work

And dead writer?  

Daphne Du Maurier. She combines all the qualities I admire and more

What or who inspires you?  

Great writing. I only hope that one day I can come a little close to what others have already achieved

If not a writer, what job would you do?  

Artist. If I had my time again, I would take a fine art degree and put my fledgling and entirely amateur ability as a watercolour artist – inherited from my grandfather - to much better use

What's your guilty reading pleasure? Favourite trashy read?  

Hello magazine

Favourite city?  

My husband Chris and I have had some of our happiest times in Paris, but we also adore Rome, to which we fly at least once a year before our annual sojourn in Italy. I spent a lot of time in Amman, Jordan, which is the epitome of all I love about the Middle East, and I also love Marrakech, which is like nowhere else on earth. Closer to home, I have a special place in my heart for Norwich, the beautiful many-spired county city of Norfolk, in which I can happily lose a day

Favourite colour?  

Green, in all its myriad hues

Favourite food?  

Almost anything Italian. I have been a vegetarian since I was 18 years old and Italy is one of the few places I can go and eat almost anything without feeling like a leper

Hobbies?  

Painting, film, music, cooking, gardening, growing our own organic vegetables, keeping hens, crosswords, travel, dogs, nephew, niece, six godchildren; enjoying the company of friends.