Sara Sheridan Quotes & Sayings

Mirabelle was always an enigma, and he had the sense that if he pushed her, she'd bolt. — Sara Sheridan

People see what they expect to see. — Sara Sheridan

In crime books it's possible to chart forensic technology by how well it has to be explained to a reader. In mid-Victorian crime novels fingerprinting has to be explained because it's new. Nowadays it's part of our world and we can simply assume that knowledge if we write about it. — Sara Sheridan

It was nearly ten years since the peace though her memories of the war still felt fresh. — Sara Sheridan

Books have a vital place in our culture. They are the source of ideas, of stories that engage and stretch the imagination and most importantly, inspire. — Sara Sheridan

Mirabelle? Mirabelle Bevan? Well, I'll be blowed!"
Mirabelle started, almost spilling her drink. It took her a moment to realize who the handsome man was, now his hair was greying at the edges and he was out of uniform. Puffing laconically on a cigarette, martini in hand, he wore a lounge suit and an understated silk tie with a discreet regimental insignia woven into the fabric.
"Eddie," she smiled. "What are you doing here? — Sara Sheridan

I have no problem in moving a date one way or another or coming up with a subplot that gets my characters in (or out) of a fix more rambunctiously than the extant records show. — Sara Sheridan

Social and cultural history is often comprised of whatever diaries and letters remain and that is down to chance and wide open to interpretation. — Sara Sheridan

Edinburgh is a comfortable puddle for a novelist. — Sara Sheridan

There's nothing like a military man, even out of uniform. — Sara Sheridan

Looking at my life through the lens of history has made me increasingly grateful to standout women who pushed those boundaries to make the changes from which I have benefited. — Sara Sheridan

I always thought that bagels and lox was my soul food, but it turns out it's sushi. — Sara Sheridan

The best historical stories capture the modern imagination because they are, in many senses, still current - part of a continuum. — Sara Sheridan

I have a really vivid imagination and I find it difficult to read scenes of complete graphic violence. That's not to say that graphic violence does not exist. It's just that I find it quite harrowing and I much prefer if it isn't completely outlined for me because my imagination can do that. — Sara Sheridan

The lively oral storytelling scene in Scots and Gaelic spills over into the majority English-speaking culture, imbuing it with a strong sense of narrative drive that is essential to the modern novel, screenplay and even non-fiction. — Sara Sheridan

I have an ambivalent relationship with Margaret Thatcher. She came to power in May 1979 - a month before my 11th birthday. I was far too young to have developed a great deal of political awareness. I remember it, though - my mother excited at the dinner table because Britain had its first female prime minister. — Sara Sheridan

The sound of pencils taking notes provided a low scrape and hum, almost like radio interference. — Sara Sheridan

This investigation felt difficult, like driving in fog. — Sara Sheridan

I don't choose between my house phone and my mobile. I don't choose between my laptop and my notebook. And I don't intend to choose between my e-reader and my bookshelf. — Sara Sheridan

I find it inspiring to actively choose which traditions to celebrate and also come up with new ideas for traditions of my own. — Sara Sheridan

We don't live in a society that has genuine equality, and every woman we know has experienced that. — Sara Sheridan

Writing is a profession that has no real career structure and your best advice when you hit a difficulty is probably going to come from another writer one or two rungs on the career ladder ahead of you. — Sara Sheridan

My identity has always been confused. Born in Edinburgh of a Scottish/Russian/Jewish mother and an English/Irish/Catholic father, there is no form of guilt to which I was not subjected in my childhood. Members of my immediate family live all over the world - a diaspora of cousins, aunts, uncles and more in a dizzying mix. — Sara Sheridan

An aunt is a safe haven for a child. Someone who will keep your secrets and is always on your side. — Sara Sheridan

It may take a village to raise a baby, but hell! it takes an army to produce a book. — Sara Sheridan

There was something unbearable about the damp, dark earth closing over a coffin and the still, empty flesh that was inside. She had attended a hundred funerals, but when you really loved someone there was something too final about a burial. Something brutal. — Sara Sheridan

I love stories that suck you in, that you can't stop reading because you are quite simply there. — Sara Sheridan

I decided to coin the term 'cosy crime noir' for Brighton Belle. That is 'cosy crime' for today's sensibilities because there is that slightly edgy element to it. — Sara Sheridan

You've got to make an effort to get the details right, because even through someone picks it up and knows it's a novel, they know someone's made it up and they know it's not real, if you make a small mistake they will cease to imaginatively engage with the story. — Sara Sheridan

You became the sum total of where you lived, where you shopped, which church you went to, how many kids you had and which taxi company you used, and you only associated with people who had the same responses on their list. — Sara Sheridan

It occurred to me that as a man I could do anything, everything I wanted. — Sara Sheridan

One of the great things about the Fifties is there are so many secrets - people who've come back from the war and done these terrible things that they don't want to think about, or can't say what they did because they signed the Official Secrets Act. — Sara Sheridan

I believe the era of the militant lady is back. — Sara Sheridan

The net has provided a level playing field for criticism and comment - anyone and everyone is entitled to their opinion - and that is one of its greatest strengths. — Sara Sheridan

If I hadn't been able to get my first book published, I am not sure what I would have done. — Sara Sheridan

It seemed to me that these months of watching and listening, second-guessing words and phrases, seeking so much that was new, had somehow changed me. — Sara Sheridan

He noticed that he felt calmer now she was here, still in that grey dress with her dowdy hat, the air around her redolent with orchid oil. Perhaps all women in England had this effect. Perhaps they all smelled of flowers and exuded a calm and measured purpose. He couldn't remember. — Sara Sheridan

Writers are a product of where we come from, but by looking at alternatives to the culture in which we live, we can find ways to change and hopefully improve it. — Sara Sheridan

I've always felt that good writing does not have to be literary. — Sara Sheridan

Personally I estimate about a third of my time is spent on author events, social media and traditional publicity. — Sara Sheridan

Scotland just isn't terribly Tory. — Sara Sheridan

You don't know what the hell you look like when you're just some little schoolgirl. — Sara Sheridan

I've been obsessed with stories since I was a kid so it's no surprise that I ended up writing for a living. — Sara Sheridan

The question shouldn't be 'Are we guilty about our colonial past;' it should be 'Why aren't we more guilty about our corporate present'? — Sara Sheridan

Edinburgh is alive with words. — Sara Sheridan

I am completely unflustered by whichever medium people choose to read my words. I'm just delighted they're reading them at all! — Sara Sheridan

Digital distribution has widened the reading world. — Sara Sheridan

Writing is such a solitary occupation that it takes a long time to build up a group of professional peers with whom you genuinely identify. — Sara Sheridan

Our archives are treasure troves - a testament to many lives lived and the complexity of the way we move forward. They contain clues to the real concerns of day-to-day life that bring the past alive. — Sara Sheridan

We're all so digital, but the '50s was the era of watches you had to wind. When Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest in 1953, Hillary was equipped with a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. — Sara Sheridan

As a historical novelist, there is very little I like more than spending time sorting through boxes of old letters, diaries, maps, trinkets, and baubles. — Sara Sheridan

During the war some of the country's sharpest minds had looked as if they had been dragged through a hedge backwards. — Sara Sheridan

Mirabelle sat down, dropping into the cushions like a ball being caught in a large leather glove. — Sara Sheridan

The law don't like jazz clubs. No one wants anything to do with that kind of trouble. — Sara Sheridan

I can't bear literary snobbery. — Sara Sheridan

Our children make us so vulnerable. Our parents too, I suppose. — Sara Sheridan

I'm not sure how much easier it is for a mother to balance her life now - have we simply swapped one set of restrictions for another? — Sara Sheridan

Why, that means you're just a ... busybody. You could be anyone. You could be a journalist.' — Sara Sheridan

People who inspire such contradictory emotions must be worthwhile, I reasoned. — Sara Sheridan

Britain wouldn't have won the war without its eccentric geniuses. — Sara Sheridan

Let's be clear - for people like me, who are obsessed with story and for whom words are their medium, writing is the best job possible. I work hard, but I earn more than the national average wage while I play with my imagination, and for me, that's a dream. — Sara Sheridan

The curve of my waist in a tight fitting summer dress can really make me new friends. — Sara Sheridan

The writing talent of Edinburgh is textured - we have poets, novelists, non-fiction writers, dramatists and more. — Sara Sheridan

Cases fired by emotion rather than money were dangerous. — Sara Sheridan

Always wise aunts come in many guises. There are maiden aunts, dowager aunts, and that delightful creature, the eccentric aunt. I fear I fall into the latter category. — Sara Sheridan

She was herself in their company but a very specific version of herself. — Sara Sheridan

Covert operations relied on the unguarded slip, the unconscious choosing of one word over another. — Sara Sheridan

Most fledgling and mid-list writers are lucky to be offered a 4-figure sum and are not only expected to deliver copy that needs minimal editing but also take an active part in marketing and publicizing their work. — Sara Sheridan

You couldn't see the soldiers as people. They were icons. — Sara Sheridan

I have a very strong sense that we only know where we are by looking clearly at where we've come from. — Sara Sheridan

On of the prerequisites for my mobile phone is that I have to be able to fling it at a wall if I lose my temper. — Sara Sheridan

Reticence was clearly a national characteristic, even if the other person spoke French. — Sara Sheridan

When the first book out my sister-in-law read it and we were chatting at 5 o'clock in the afternoon and she said, "Oh my God, chapter six, sex and a murder," and her five year old wandered into the kitchen and said, "Sixty hamburgers? — Sara Sheridan

I care about a lot of issues. I care about libraries, I care about healthcare, I care about homelessness and unemployment. I care about net neutrality and the steady erosion of our liberties both online and off. I care about the rich/poor divide and the rise of corporate business. — Sara Sheridan

How lucky am I? Quite often I speak at book festivals, and people ask me how I got published. There's people who have been working on a book for as long as ten years, and I feel like such a cow. — Sara Sheridan

You couldn't predict what was going to happen for one simple reason: people. — Sara Sheridan

I've always viewed history as my personal treasure chest. — Sara Sheridan

I once did an event with Ian Rankin where he said he didn't really need to do much background research because his books are set in the present, and I just thought: 'You lucky, lucky beast!' because as a historical novelist, I live constantly on the edge of wondering whether tissues had been invented. — Sara Sheridan

I realized early on that being an author is a hugely misunderstood job. Because there are no pay grades and very little structure, people make interesting assumptions about the profession. — Sara Sheridan

I had loved poetry and the theatre. Now I loved adventure more. — Sara Sheridan

Something I notice speaking to writers from south of Hadrian's Wall is that the culture is different. At base, I think Scotland values its creative industries differently from England. — Sara Sheridan

A flock of small birds took off from the wall of the fort. They moved like a length of dark silk caught by the breeze as they headed out to sea. Behind them, the sky was the colour of forget-me-nots. The sun blazed. — Sara Sheridan

It's always been important for writers to be disciplined but now even more so. In addition to the traditional displacement activities like cleaning the fridge or eating cake writers are faced with a plethora of online possibilities (some of which may be professionally worthwhile as well as interesting and fun). As a writer it's important to learn how to focus so you can do both as and when you need to. — Sara Sheridan

It was as if she was a dream, like London, which he could not entirely grasp and of which he was not worthy. He wanted to be part of it but had forgotten how. It seemed extraordinary and strange that this paragon among women had condescended to travel on his ship. In fact, she'd insisted upon it. Her presence was at once otherworldly and familiar, none of which explained why his brain ceased to function when he was in her company. — Sara Sheridan

Aunts offer kids an opportunity to try out ideas that don't chime with their parents and they also demonstrate that people can get on, love each other and live together without necessarily being carbon copies. — Sara Sheridan

It is through our extended family that we first learn to compromise and come to an understanding that even if we don't always agree about things we can still love and look out for each other. — Sara Sheridan

I write fast. I'm one of the lucky ones. — Sara Sheridan

In wartime people took action because of what they believed in. In peacetime people were driven by their private concerns. — Sara Sheridan

I said: 'I'm throwing in my job, and I'm going to write a book.' Everyone thought: 'She's off her trolley,' and it was quite crazy, really. I'm just lucky that it came off. — Sara Sheridan

If you put Mirabelle into some of the situations she gets into, there is only one way Mirabelle can behave. — Sara Sheridan

I'm proud of the culture I come from - we're a small country and a close-knit community. — Sara Sheridan

Some matters are simply contentious. Sometimes you're never going to get it right. — Sara Sheridan

Kissing her is like drinking salted water, he thinks. His thirst only increases. — Sara Sheridan

People responded to body language without even thinking. It was important to get it absolutely right. — Sara Sheridan

Most fellas like the races, though, Miss. It's only human nature — Sara Sheridan

If we don't value the people who inspire us (and money is one mark of that) then what kind of culture are we building? — Sara Sheridan

A paucity of material can open up just as many possibilities. — Sara Sheridan

We have more choice than ever before about where and how we buy and read books. — Sara Sheridan

One of Scotland's most important cultural exports - stories. — Sara Sheridan

Mrs Beaumont shrugged. 'Dougie travelled light in life,' she said. 'He knew it was people who were important. — Sara Sheridan