But You Can Try To Read Books

Sometimes I Feel That I Am Destined Always To Be Offstage Whenever The Main Action Occurs. That God Has Made Me The Victim Of Some Cosmic Practical Joke, By Assigning Me Little More Than A Walk-on Part In My Own Life. Or Sometimes I Feel That My Role Is Simply To Be A Spectator To Other People's Stories, And Always To Wander Away At The Most Important Moment, Drifiting Into The Kitchen To Make A Cup Of Tea Just As The Denouement Unfolds.

I Was Mainly In A State Of Nervousness While I Wrote It - Nervousness That It Was Far Bigger And More Complicated Than Anything Id Attempted Before, And That Maybe My Talent Just Wasnt Up To It And The Book Would Have To Be Abandoned, Or Would Turn Out Not To Work At All When It Was Finished.

It Seems To Me That You Would Have To Write A Novel On A Very Small, Intimate Scale For It Not To Become Political.

My Only Regret Is That I Signed Away The World Rights And In America They've Been Far And Away My Most Successful Books, But I Never Saw A Cent From Any Of It.

But I Have Always - Ever Since The Accidental Woman - Written Novels About Individuals Attempting To Make Choices In The Context Of Situations Over Which They Have No Control.