“Above all, staring at my old bedroom ceiling, I feel safe. Cocooned from the world; wrapped up in cotton wool. No one can get me here. No one even knows I'm here. I won't get any nasty letters and I won't get any nasty phone calls and I won't get any nasty visitors. It's like a sanctuary. I feel as if I'm fifteen again, with nothing to worry about but my Homework. (And I haven't even got any of that.)”

“It really is the year 2007. Which means I must be...Oh my God. I'm twenty-eight.I'm old.”

“Okay. Now my skin is really prickling. I've read all the Harry Potter books, all five of them. I don't remember any half-blood prince."What's this?" Trying to sound casual, I point at the ad, "What's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?""That's the latest book," Garth the other trainee, says. "It came out ages ago."I can't help gasping. "There's a sixth Harry Potter?""There's a seventh out soon!" Diana steps forward eagerly. "And guess what happens at the end of book six-""Shh!" exclaims Nicole, the other nurse. "Don't tell her!”

“The thing with giving up is you never know. You never know whether you could have done the job. And I'm sick of not knowing about my life.”

“I'm Cinderella. No, I'm better than Cinderella, because she only got the prince, didn't she? I'm Cinderella with fab teeth and a shit-hot job.”

“People who want to make a million borrow a million first”

“Everyone's moving on without me, into a world I don't understand.”

“I think a lot of people still fantasise about that first love and what might happen if they rekindled the relationship.”

“I always thought 'chick lit' meant third-person contemporary funny novels, dealing with issues of the day. I mean, it's not the ideal term; when I'm asked to describe what I do, I say I write romantic comedies, cause that's what I feel they are. But I'm quite pragmatic.”

“I never did any training in journalism or in finance, so I really was in the deep end. I got very good at going to press conferences and nodding. I'd figure it out when I got back to the office. Charts and numbers. I've never been great with facts, ever, my whole life. For a journalist, that's not a very good trait.”

“If my writing comes to a halt, I head to the shops: I find them very inspirational. And if I get into real trouble with my plot, I go out for a pizza with my husband.”