Penelope Lively

And now I want to get yesterday down while I still have the awful taste of it ↗

— Penelope Lively

#life

So now we are young still but a better sort of young. ↗

— Penelope Lively

#youth #age

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

— Penelope Lively

#identity #need #our #past #sense

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

— Penelope Lively

#country #deep #deep down #down #feeling

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

— Penelope Lively

#endless #equally #frequently #hence #history

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

— Penelope Lively

#every #generates #get #going #novel

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

— Penelope Lively

#i #made #pronouncements #want

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

— Penelope Lively

#children #had #i #might #particular

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

— Penelope Lively

#i #over #until #well #write

Conventional forms of narrative allow for different points of view, but for this book I wanted a structure whereby each of the main characters contributed a distinctive version of the story. ↗

— Penelope Lively

#book #characters #contributed #conventional #different