Quotes from Lisa Jewell

There are people out there who would enjoy my books but wouldn't pick them up because they think it's not going to be for them. I find it infuriating.There's a lot more going on in my books than just romance.

Ever since 'Single White Female,' the 1990 novel which was turned into a supremely scary film, the idea of a seemingly normal woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants has become an abiding literary trope.

Sometimes you need to be shaken out of a situation.

All my main characters have got bits of me, bits of my family, bits of my friends.

My mother had breast cancer when she was 39.

Every brilliant book I read is an influence and an inspiration. As is every brilliant movie I watch and every brilliant box set.

A strange side effect of sudden success is the sense that if you can succeed in one field, then it might well be worth trying to succeed in another.

When we were kids, we couldn't wait to have our own rooms, not to have to share anymore. And that is what I love about having my own bedroom. It is mine. My sleep is mine. Both pillows are mine. If I wake up, it is me who has woken me up... It makes me feel like a grown-up. I love it.

I like the fact that my husband and I have been together for a long time and have a warm and colourful history together.

If you have a calling, you need to let it find you.

I write in cafes, never at home. I cannot focus at home, am forever getting off my chair to do other things. In a cafe, I have to sit still, or I'll look a bit unhinged.

I don't think my first book was chick lit.

Flowers would be wasted on me. I don't like valentines. I don't need gifts. I'm a pragmatic romantic.

My parents' marriage was, on an aesthetic level, very pleasing to behold.

That whole idea of chick lit being a thing that you just lump all the commercial female writers into - it went on for years.I'd switch on the radio, and I'd hear, 'Two female authors are here to discuss chick lit - is it dead?' and I'd think, 'Argh, no, not again. Are we seriously still having this conversation?'

I married someone I didn't love. I was too polite to say no.

I look about my house and see there are lots of lovely things in it, but I constantly buy more.

My mother's childhood was complex, disjointed, and disturbing. As children, we would gather round and ask her to tell us again and again The Story of Her Childhood. It was Grimmsian, Andersenesque: a classic fairy tale replete with goodies and baddies.

I knew I wasn't the sort of person who could do a full-time job and write in the evening and at weekends.

There's a weird contrast between my usual daily routine and then my book coming out. It's like someone's just suddenly opened the curtains in a dark room, and everyone's looking at you.

My father, Anthony, was a textile agent who sold fabric in the West End and was away a lot. He was very glamorous. When he first met my mum, he swept her off into this big, social world.

People say 'chick lit,' and what they mean is 'crap.' And so even though you might sell 100,000 copies of a book, you're never going to win a prize. These are books that people don't just read, they devour them - they stay up into the early hours because they want to devour them.

No man ever fell in love with me for the way I fill out a Lycra dress.

When I read a book it feels like real life and when I put the book down it's like I go back into the dream.