What was your favourite childhood book?

Where the Wild Things Are.

Which book has made you laugh?

Bill Bryson’s In A Sunburned Country

Which book has made you cry?

Most of my own, while I’m writing them.

Which book would you never have on your bookshelf?

The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks.

Which book would you give to a friend as a present?

Anything by Alice Hoffman

Which classic have you always meant to read and never got round to it?

Vanity Fair

What are your top five books of all time, in order or otherwise?

In no particular order: The Great Gatsby, for its unreliable narrator; The Sun Also Rises, because unrequited love is the greatest story of all; Turtle Moon, because it was my first Alice Hoffman book; To Kill a Mockingbird, because it has the best heroine, and a healthy dose of controversy; and The Paper Bag Princess – a wonderful little picture book I used to read my daughter, about a princess whose kingdom is burned by a dragon, who also carries off her fiancé, Prince Ronald. The princess conquers the dragon while wearing a paper bag – with her wits, instead of strength –and rescues Ronald. When she finds him he says disdainfully that she doesn’t look much like a princess, in her paper bag. She replies that he looks like a prince, but he’s a bum – and she leaves on her own, happily ever after.

What is the worst book you have ever read?

The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks.

Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

Gone with the Wind. I memorized huge passages when I was twelve and pretended to be both Rhett and Scarlett (hence I had no boyfriend till I was 15…) I loved that Margaret Mitchell had created a world out of words, and I wanted to do the same thing.

What is your favourite time of day to write?

The morning.

And favourite place?

My office, which is home – in the attic.

Longhand or word processor?

TOTALLY word processor – I type faster than I write.

Which fictional character would you most like to have met?

Scout, from To Kill A Mockingbird.

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest writer of all time?

Shakespeare. He told all the stories, the rest of us just recycle them.

Which book have you found yourself unable to finish?

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.

What is your favourite word?

Uxorious: excessively fond of one’s wife

Other than writing, what other jobs or professions have you undertaken or considered?

Before I was a writer, I worked on Wall Street, writing bond offering circulars for Standard and Poor & Moody’s. I also worked at a two person ad agency; and as a textbook editor. I taught creative writing in a private school and 8th grade English in a public school. Of the jobs I WISH I had tried: forensic detective (they do what I do, create a story out of details, but theirs are real) and pastry chef – if I made you my French Apple Almond tart, you might think it’s just as good as one of my books!

What was the first piece you ever had in print?

A poem in my grandparents’ community newspaper in Bayside, NY when I was seven.