"We like love - we love love - but perhaps its only meaning lies in its ubiquitous meaninglessness. W..." — Richard Flanagan

The Bradshaws suggests an extraordinary civilisation that existed long before modern man reached the British Isles.

I had long wanted to write a love story, and I had long - wisely, I felt - shirked the challenge because I felt it the hardest story of all to write.

Of all the love stories ever published, I have - realistically - read very few.

Love stories seek to demonstrate the great truth of love: that we discover eternity in a moment that dies immediately after.