Author

I chose a time in the century which had the greatest moments for novels - the late '30s and World War II.

I basically wrote five books with 'Night Soldiers,' called them novellas, and came in with a 600-page manuscript.

I'd never been in a police state. I didn't know what it was. I knew that it was, in the general way that people know that two and two is four, but it had no emotional value for me until I found myself in the middle of it.

From Alan Furst

My theory is that sometimes writers write books because they want to read them, and they aren't there to be read. And I think that was true of me.

From Alan Furst

I would have loved to have another 10 Eric Ambler books.

From Alan Furst

Yes, I'm a reasonably good self-taught historian of the 1930s and '40s. I've never wanted to write about another time or place. I wouldn't know what to say about contemporary society.

From Alan Furst

I started writing in my 20s. I just wanted to write, but I didn't have anything to write about, so in the beginning, I wrote entertainments - mainly murder mysteries.

From Alan Furst