‘I try my best not to read reviews - people can be cruel and I am a fragile thing. But there’s one review that always makes me laugh, which said, “‘Spoilt Creatures’ is not a novel that I particularly admire.” Speak your truth.’

'I’ve heard a few writers say - Zadie Smith being one of them - that the novel, short story, whatever it might be, is representative of the writer at that particular time. You will never think in exactly the same way and therefore you will never write the same again. A comfort, I think.'