'The big publishers really help readers and writers...

'The big publishers really help readers and writers, preserving us from a lot of abominable self-exculpating, abusive tosh. G K Chesterton said that a good novel tells us the truth about its hero but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. Publishers may have taken this too much to heart, using it as a filter to keep out stuff that's overly personal. But, in general, I'm grateful for their rigour. There are too many books on my desk already.'

Jonathan Heawood in The World of Books column in the London Observer