“I know I have to give her that freedom. Otherwise I’ve just caged her, haven’t I? And what kind of love would it be, that only came from inside a box?”

“I want to keep her, but I don’t want to tie her. I need her to be able to run, but not to want to. I need her to knowthat. I need her to feel safe with me. Fuck it, I just need her.”

“I did worry at one stage that all my stories seem to revolve around secrets, lies and self-deception, but then I realized that most of human life revolves around those things too, so obviously they were going to feature hugely in anything I wrote. I write about people, so my novels are going to be as different as people are, but with the same core desires, hopes and fears that we all share.”

“I don't usually like to stop women staring at my groin, but... you're a bit intense, I'm starting to worry.”

“Know me right through to my bones.”

“You know you're in for a bad day when the Devil eats your last HobNob.”

“In addition to what has been already said of Catherine Morland's personal and mental endowments, when about to be launched into all the difficulties and dangers of a six weeks' residence in Bath, it may be stated, for the reader's more certain information, lest the following pages should otherwise fail of giving any idea of what her character is meant to be; that her heart was affectionate, her disposition cheerful and open, without conceit or affectation of any kind - her manners just removed from the awkwardness and shyness of a girl; her person pleasing, and, when in good looks, pretty - and her mind about as ignorant and uninformed as the female mind at seventeen usually is.”