For years, there was no man in the house when my husband was off on law cases in the Far East. Without writing, I would have been bored and unfaithful, maybe both, and the children would have been hideously over-protected. — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
“What I don't want is to be called an octogenarian. I saw 'Octogenarian Jane Gardam' and I thought 'Blow me!' I mean, I am,… — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
I just knew I would be a writer. It just seemed the only sensible thing to do. — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
I think the most dangerous influence for a young writer is to be treated with cynicism or discouragement. — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
“His colleagues at the Bar called him Filth, but not out of irony. It was because he was considered to be the source of the old joke, Failed In London Try Hong Kong. It was said that he had fled the London Bar, very young, very poor, on a sudden whim just after the War, and had done magnificently well… — Jane Gardam Copy Share
When I was young and the empire was beginning to disintegrate, the idea was absolutely unbelievable, particularly to children who'd been taught that the… — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
I hate the idea of sequels. I think you should be able to do it in one book. — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
Only a great genius like the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell can be mother, wife and novelist without solitude. I couldn't write until my youngest… — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
I longed from a tiny child to get away on my own. When I was five, I walked out along the sands from Redcar,… — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
The complexion of a novelist is seldom rosy (Paul Bailey once announced to a heavy-hearted audience of novelists at PEN that we have always… — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
Stories of all lengths and depths come from different parts of the cave. For a novel, you must lay in mental, physical and spiritual… — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
English country life is more like Chekhov than 'The Archers' or Thomas Hardy or even the Updike ethic with which it is sometimes compared. — Jane Gardam Copy Share Image
