I always joke deep down I'm really a teenage girl on the inside.

All my friends are female, I've edited for a magazine for young girls for 15 years, I relate to women, and I'm very, very close to my younger sister.

My goal is to write books that are quality books with very real characters and a gripping plot.

I grew up in a two-bedroom house with my grandfather, my mom and dad and four kids. I slept on the couch or on the floor, and I always wanted to have my own space.

On the other hand, I think that the family, the traditional family, has a fundamental social role, because it's there that children are born and the investment in children is the greatest investment a country can make. The benefits of this investment go to everyone.

I was born during the war, on October 20, 1942, as the second of five children. My father, Rolf Volhard, was an architect.

I come from a line of self-motivated, determined folk - not grand, not high society, but no-nonsense, family-minded go-getters.

I'm getting my psychology degree with a focus on marriage and family therapy.