I made a decision when I started writing 'All is Song' to take the compliments I had for 'The Wilderness' and try to be confident and not overwhelmed by it.

I conceived 'All Is Song' as a modernised, loosely interpreted version of Socrates's life.

With 'All Is Song,' I tried to construct a very traditional narrative that pulls no tricks.

When my writing really started to take off was when I made a decision that I would write only what I wanted to write, and if 10 people wanted to hear it, that's fine.

In the wilderness, I found solace in writing.

Socrates was famously executed for his philosophical and political beliefs. I wondered what would happen if you had a similar character, who was so relentlessly questioning of everything? In a modern society, would we be any more or any less tolerant of that kind of character?