THANKS TO NZ AUTHOR TANIA ROXBOROGH FOR THE FOLLOWING QUOTE:

‘Some say that books are an escape from real life. But the beauty of books is that they are crammed with real life. No one is more aware of real life, in all its trivia and glory, than a novelist. In novels you will find mention of things like measles, chocolate, ferry crossings (and eating chocolate on ferry crossings), train journeys, adultery (and adultery on train journeys), bacon, junkies, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, gas ovens, lost jewellery, wedding dresses, shower caps, snot, randy bakers, honey, miso soup, spider webs, lost mothers, abandoned children, rain forests, immortality, angels and toe rot.
Not to mention love. Novels are full of life’s impurities, and love must be the most impure thing of all.’

From My Candlelight Novel by Joanne Horniman, Allen and Unwin 2008