Ann Cleeves Quotes & Sayings

She'd learned that it was important when you were dealing with professional do-gooders to keep calm. Otherwise they judged you. Wrote things like anger-management problems in their reports. — Ann Cleeves

They think of themselves as your grandparents,' he said. But call them whatever you like. James and Mary? — Ann Cleeves

He was never very good at talking about feelings. He'd been on his own for so long that it was as if he'd had to learn a new language — Ann Cleeves

My work is less violent because we tend to write what we want to read ... and I'm not that interested in gruesome books. Any violence, to fit in well with a crime novel, has to have compassion. — Ann Cleeves

We don't often notice the people who look after us, do we? Though we'd miss them if they weren't there — Ann Cleeves

Shetland is the most remote place in the U.K. It's a part our country, but completely unique. It might be British, but it's closer to Norway than to Edinburgh, and it feels very different from the mainland. — Ann Cleeves

Not unless he crossed the line.' Holly supposed she should let this go, but she was tired of Vera's bullying. 'Ah, that line . . .' Vera leaned back in her chair with her eyes half-closed. 'If only we knew exactly where it was.' There — Ann Cleeves

Television is much more collaborative in many ways than prose. — Ann Cleeves

A writer loses possession of her work as soon as it's reaches its audience. Each reader brings his own experience and prejudice and imagination to the work. Television adaptation just goes one step further, and the novelist has to learn to let go. — Ann Cleeves

But she thought the men's brains had turned to jelly. They couldn't see straight. Faced with a pretty woman they all seemed to lose their reason. — Ann Cleeves

Rather than the grey and dreary institutions of public perception, these should be places of innovation and experiment, where readers can take a chance on a book, pick one because they like the look of the cover or the title or because they see it returned by the gorgeous young man who lives in their street. After all, they will have absolutely nothing to lose. The book will be free. — Ann Cleeves

It was precisely midnight when he stepped through the door. Taylor had said he wanted everyone in the Incident Room an hour before first light the next day, but Perez wasn't ready for sleep. As he switched on the kettle to make tea, he remembered he hadn't eaten since lunchtime and stuck sliced bread under the grill, fished margarine and marmalade from the fridge. He'd have breakfast now, save time in the morning. — Ann Cleeves

I especially don't like the graphic violence against women and children often depicted in novels such as 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' and others. I'm not sure if it's being done just to entertain or whether it really is necessary for the characters involved. — Ann Cleeves

I lived in Shetland for a short while in the seventies and have been visiting ever since, so I have lots of useful contacts! — Ann Cleeves

Shetland has always been a place of sanctuary for me. I visited when I dropped out of university, and I just loved it from the minute I got there. It's a bleak but very beautiful place. — Ann Cleeves

Shetland's influences are far more Scandinavian than Celtic. — Ann Cleeves

The best place for puffin watching is Sumburgh Head, at the south end of the Shetland mainland. There used to be a lighthouse there, but it's now a visitor centre and gallery; they run a webcam, so you can check on the puffins in advance. — Ann Cleeves

I'm aware families sit around the telly to watch 'Vera', which is making entertainment out of murder. But I don't enjoy reading about people's pain. I tend to put myself in that position, and it's not somewhere I want to be. — Ann Cleeves

You must never call it the Shetlands. Islanders are proud and can be prickly about the name: it's either Shetland or the Shetland Islands. — Ann Cleeves

'Shetland' is adapted from the novel 'Red Bones.' The book is based around an archaeological dig, and the mystery starts with the murder of the elderly woman who crofts the land where the dig is happening. — Ann Cleeves

I write traditional drama, and the small enclosed communities work well with this form. I enjoy exploring secrets. On small islands, privacy is important, and there are secrets that everyone can guess but nobody talks about. — Ann Cleeves

like everything, sanity came more easily with practice. — Ann Cleeves

the hugeness of the world was a pool to dive into, not somewhere to drown. — Ann Cleeves