I was brought up in a religious family. I went to a church school, and took my first Sunday School lesson when I was ten years old.

Can't say I found any of it a barrel of laughs.

The worst thing was that awkward questions were discouraged - and I was practically born asking awkward questions.

Goldkeeper is intended to be a barrel of laughs that asks a lot of awkward questions about religion. It concerns a very awkward boy called Sebastian, his pet rat Gerald and a lot of gangsters... and God.

The nicest thing about having written this book has been that everyone has a different favourite character. (Turville is the most popular, followed by the dangerous Eunice.)