“Painting my nails is the easiest way to look as though I’ve made an effort.”
― Jane Fallon
“I was never one of those little girls who played with baby dolls and picked names for her firstborn. I was playing in the mud with my dog, doing backflips, and climbing trees.”
― Jane Fallon
“The best thing about a British winter is the cold weather, real fires, frosty mornings. I love living somewhere that has proper seasons.”
― Jane Fallon
“I suppress stress to the point where it will force its way through my skin in the form of a large angry pimple because that’s the only channel it has.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve always been very clear: I never want to be known just as somebody’s girlfriend.”
― Jane Fallon
“I have always had a bee in my bonnet about being seen to do things for myself.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve never wanted a baby. I’ve always wanted a cat.”
― Jane Fallon
“I think it makes you a good listener about other people’s relationships when you haven’t got that much to say about your own.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve never regretted not having kids.”
― Jane Fallon
“I am too much of a worrier. I’m the person who thinks about calling round all the hospitals when someone is five minutes later than they said they would be.”
― Jane Fallon
“Grandchildren are the Furbies of the offspring world. They’re cute, they’re funny, you can play with them and then put them away when they start to get on your nerves.”
― Jane Fallon
“You just don’t come across proper, deep, loyal friendships very easily later on in life.”
― Jane Fallon
“You come across those real, genuine friendships so rarely in your life and they are so precious, you know the people who really have your back, who love you unconditionally and aren’t your family. You don’t stumble across those people very often.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve got a really good group of friends. I don’t feel the need to go out and forge new bonds.”
― Jane Fallon
“Luckily my own life is uncomplicated, which lets me really enjoy other people’s complicated messes!”
― Jane Fallon
“I tend to make snap judgements about people.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’m turning into one of those people who writes to the actors on ‘Coronation Street’ – a really obsessive fan.”
― Jane Fallon
“I don’t know one end of a car from another.”
― Jane Fallon
“I like to dance and throw things around as I cook.”
― Jane Fallon
“I hope I never become that person who is all about getting Botox.”
― Jane Fallon
“If you spend too much time in L.A., you might start to lose a sense of what’s normal.”
― Jane Fallon
“I love L.A. for a couple of days – I like the healthy food – but it’s a one-industry town.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’m such a solitary person that working on my own is perfect for me.”
― Jane Fallon
“Everyone has bits of dysfunction in their families, but I actually have a very nice, happy one.”
― Jane Fallon
“People always say, ‘My family is so normal,’ and when you poke into them, they never are.”
― Jane Fallon
“There’s something lovely about writing a book, doing what you want. I love the solitariness of it.”
― Jane Fallon
“My dad used to cut out newspaper ads and post them to me in the hope I’d get a proper job.”
― Jane Fallon
“As an adult, I had to accept that I was not a natural distance runner. Anything more than about 400 metres had me gasping and wheezing like a broken accordion.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve always worked out, but running pushed bits of me harder than anything else I had ever done.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve always been a glass-half-empty sort of person.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’m not a girly girl at all.”
― Jane Fallon
“I spent my whole childhood trying to find places to be on my own. I used to sit on the water tank in the attic or in the dog’s kennel. I was quite a strange child.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’ve got no desire to be famous myself.”
― Jane Fallon
“Bizarrely, I’ve been called selfish for not having children. Surely it’s more selfish to have a child when you don’t really want a child?”
― Jane Fallon
“One thing that was drummed into me when I was younger is that you have to make your own way in life, that you mustn’t expect anyone else to support you.”
― Jane Fallon
“Even when I was a kid, I was never interested in any of that marriage or baby stuff.”
― Jane Fallon
“I remember watching a ‘Big Brother’ contestant saying that she wanted to be a footballer’s wife. I thought, ‘What is the world coming to?’”
― Jane Fallon
“My idea of the perfect day is nothing to do and a great book on the go.”
― Jane Fallon
“My whole life, I’ve wanted to be a novelist.”
― Jane Fallon
“I think a lot of people assume you need to be born into a special creative family to have a career as a writer. So I never thought it would happen for me.”
― Jane Fallon
“When I left university with a history degree, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I was terrified of accidentally ending up in the wrong career.”
― Jane Fallon
“The earlier I wake up, the better my day, so I try to get out of bed between 5 A.M. and 7 A.M.”
― Jane Fallon
“I rarely go out at night – usually once every two weeks. I’m much happier staying in.”
― Jane Fallon
“My hair is frizzy, so I’m constantly smoothing it down.”
― Jane Fallon
“Getting up early means I can write for a few hours before anyone starts phoning me or ringing the doorbell.”
― Jane Fallon
“One reviewer dubbed my first book, ‘Getting Rid of Matthew,’ ‘chick noir,’ and another called it ‘anti chick lit,’ both of which I loved.”
― Jane Fallon
“I write about messy relationships – between friends, rivals, married couples, siblings. I’m not really interested in boy/girl romances.”
― Jane Fallon
“If someone tells me something and asks me to keep it a secret, I always do.”
― Jane Fallon
“I started out working as a script editor and storyliner.”
― Jane Fallon
“When I started working from home, I made a promise to myself to go out at least once a day.”
― Jane Fallon
“I never show my books to Ricky. His writing is very different, and anyway, he’s only read one novel in his life: ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’”
― Jane Fallon
“The idea of appearing in front of an audience or on live TV terrifies me.”
― Jane Fallon
“The Killers and Kaiser Chiefs are great for exercise.”
― Jane Fallon
“Our Siamese cat, Ollie, is like a dog in a cat’s body because she is really loyal and very chatty, following me around the house all day.”
― Jane Fallon
“Ricky and I met aged 22 at University College London.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’m such a sucker for the Tiffany blue box.”
― Jane Fallon
“After my eye test, I was told I was showing symptoms of glaucoma. I realised – but only in retrospect – that pains in my eyes and the feeling of pressure that I had been experiencing must have been because of that. I’d assumed they were symptoms of migraines.”
― Jane Fallon
“In the winter, my failsafe dinner party menu has to be my roast chicken or a creamy fish pie with mashed potatoes on top, followed by something like a tarte tatin. My cooking style is quite homely.”
― Jane Fallon
“My biggest source of inspiration is listening to people’s conversations. I’m a big eavesdropper.”
― Jane Fallon
“I love the tailoring of ’50s- and ’60s-inspired dresses.”
― Jane Fallon
“What I find weird is that the term ‘chick lit’ is used to encompass literally anything a woman writes about relationships. It’s the assumption that because you’re female, you must write in a certain way. I don’t understand why that is – it is a bit demeaning.”
― Jane Fallon
“I have a strong say in how my books are marketed, and the covers – I am very firm that I don’t want pink and fluffy, or stick figures sitting drinking cocktails. That’s simply not appealing to me.”
― Jane Fallon
“It’s a difficult world, and you shouldn’t have kids unless you really want them.”
― Jane Fallon
“I like being on my own. I’m very happy in my own company.”
― Jane Fallon
“What I like about writing novels is that I’m in my own world for nine months.”
― Jane Fallon
“If I die, I know the news item would be, ‘Partner of Ricky Gervais and novelist dies.’ That would come first. But I’ve come to terms with it. As long as they do still add the ‘and novelist,’ that will be fine.”
― Jane Fallon
“I just feel that if you’re going to have kids, you need to believe that, emotionally, you can give them a really good life.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’m stupidly shy. It’s the thing I dislike most about myself.”
― Jane Fallon
“Having grown up quite shy and quiet, it’s important that I mark out who I am in the world through my work.”
― Jane Fallon
“I’m not a gossip. The worst thing anyone can say to me is, ‘Ooh, I’ve got some gossip.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, shut up.’”
― Jane Fallon
“Any situation where I feel like people are looking at me and I’ve got to speak is the kind of thing I have nightmares about.”
― Jane Fallon
“’Teachers’ is in no way a realistic soap; we’re not trying to do that, which is why we never do ‘issues.’”
― Jane Fallon
“Thirty is still the iconic number. It’s when people compare their actual lives with what they think they should have achieved.”
― Jane Fallon
“I love being at home.”
― Jane Fallon
“Whenever I’m out, I have a bit of a yearning to be in my house, to be able to shut the door on the world.”
― Jane Fallon
“Since I was an adult, I’ve always lived in the centre of London – King’s Cross, Bloomsbury – and never thought I’d leave.”
― Jane Fallon
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