Every novel generates its own climate, when you get going.

Quote by Penelope Lively

Topics: Penelope Lively Quotes

All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to...

All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to...

Since then, I have just read and read - but, that said, I suppose there...

Since then, I have just read and read - but, that said, I suppose there...

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky...

The present hardly exists, after all-it becomes the past even as it happens. A tricky...

I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have...

I didn't think I had anything particular to say, but I thought I might have...

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

I do like to embed a fictional character firmly in an occupation.

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had,...

It was a combination of an intense interest in children's literature, which I've always had,...

I rather like getting away from fiction.

I rather like getting away from fiction.

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life;...

I'm intrigued by the way in which physical appearance can often direct a person's life;...

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

Deep down I have this atavistic feeling that really I should be in the country.

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I...

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I...

Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to...

Equally, we require a collective past - hence the endless reinterpretations of history, frequently to...

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest...

There's a preoccupation with memory and the operation of memory and a rather rapacious interest...

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the...

The Photograph is concerned with the power that the past has to interfere with the...

I didn't write anything until I was well over 30.

I didn't write anything until I was well over 30.

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

We all need a past - that's where our sense of identity comes from.

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the...

I'm not an historian and I'm not wanting to write about how I perceive the...

I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it...

I've always been fascinated by the operation of memory - the way in which it...

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

I didn't want it to be a book that made pronouncements.

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I...

I have long been interested in landscape history, and when younger and more robust I...

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.

We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.