I was mad about the theatre growing up, really mad. We had a local theatre, the Torch, and I used to usher there. I would see the shows over and over again.

I'm interested in stories that aren't getting told: it's where my interests lie.

I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall in a few Victorian parlours.

I've ended up feeling fonder of 'The Paying Guests' than of any of my other novels.

I have seen my parents struggle with meagre means to run a family. That's why giving free and good education, free health services, water, electricity, public transport and safety of women are my top priority.

My family had no money or social connections with the music industry but I came to London and had some success that continues to influence my life.

When I was graduating from college, the things I valued most were family, faith, and philanthropy. I refer to them as the three f's, phonetically speaking.

I lived in New York until I was eleven years old, when my mother left my two older sisters and my father. My mother is 90 percent blind and deaf. She left and moved all the way to California. So I left my two older sisters and my father behind at the age of eleven and moved cross-country to take care of her.