What inspires your writing?

I always write the book I wish I’d had when I was going through something, be it as a single girl about town who discovers that men think monogamy is something you make dining room tables out of, or a woman in childbirth who realises that natural childbirth is a case of stiff upper labia (we’ve done drugs all our lives – why stop now?), or the mother of a teenage daughter who discovers that she’d occasionally like to put her kid back into the condom vending machine for the refund, as in my new novel.

How true to life are your stories?

All writers make a living out of lying, but I do all my research in a very in-depth, scientific manner – over cappuccinos with girlfriends. If I have any gift as a writer, it’s to put into words what women are thinking but might not have the chutzpah to say out loud. Basically, I just write down the way women talk when there are no men around.

What’s the most challenging book you’ve written?

Probably To Love, Honour and Betray. I became infamous in Australia for a book written from the perspective of a teenager [Puberty Blues (1979)]. Now that I’m the mother of two teenagers, I thought it was time to write a book from the parental perspective – parental blues, if you like. Living with a teenager is like living with the Taliban. I’m not allowed to laugh, sing, dance or wear short skirts.

I couldn’t understand why my gorgeous little girl had shape-shifted into this surly mass of hormones. To find out, I began this novel and, ah, what sweet irony, found myself confronting my own appalling teenage behaviour. My poor parents. My guilt gland has been constantly throbbing since I began this novel.