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I didn't like playing with dolls; I didn't like getting dressed up. A lot of my friends and people I went to school with were into fashion and their clothes, so I lacked a bit of self-belief and confidence... I wasn't really comfortable.

I loved books; I read my childhood away. I was more interested in my interior world.

I wrote poetry, journals, and, especially, plays for the neighborhood kids to perform. I had an ordinary, happy childhood. Nothing much was going on, but I had fun.

I was alone as a child. I lived in fairytales, adventures, Shakespeare. They are the friends, my books.

I played with dolls until I was 15. My mother encouraged it because my older sister got married when she was 15, so Mom thought that the longer I stayed with dolls, the better.

I spent a lot of time at my grandparents in the school holidays, and the only books in the house were a copy of the Bible and Agatha Christie's 'Murder at the Vicarage.' I developed a taste for murder mysteries and then later discovered libraries, second-hand bookshops, and jumble sales.

I always knew that I wanted to live with books, even as a child, because we traveled a lot. Home was the book to which I came back every evening.

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.