Nina Bawden

"People who don't read seem to me mysterious. I don't know how they think or learn about other people. Novels are a very important part of our education."

"Ten thousand pounds is the legal value of a negligently taken life, of a child or a parent. A cold and somewhat mean-spirited calculation: you would do better if you slipped on a paving-stone and broke a front tooth."

"I like writing for children. It seems to me that most people underestimate their understanding and the strength of their feelings and in my books for them I try to put this right."