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Writing has always been an interest of mine, and 'The Language of Flowers' combined my experience with foster care with something I've always wanted to do.

English is my language because of the history, and what I try to do - and I did that in 'Carpentaria' in particular - is to write in the way we tell stories and in the voice of our own people and our own way of speaking.

England gave me a language and literature, the basis of what I am as a writer, but when I started writing more directly about my own experience, it wasn't England so much as what went before.

As a former English major, I have always been fascinated by the connections between literature and history.

I've always loved English and loved English music and TV shows.

I like the relative literacy of at least some of England. I mean, I didn't come for the food or the weather!

English is the only interesting thing that's left in my life.

My mother was a children's librarian, and I was raised on lots of English children's literature. It gave me this weird idea that I was English.

My last book, 'The Language of Flowers,' I wrote completely on naptime, when my little kids were asleep.

I taught English and history, so my education for that really helped prepare me for writing historical fiction.