Shame is not in the beatings, not in the rape. Shame is in being asked to stand judgment. - Meena Kandasamy

A memoir for me means a person’s life story; if I was going to write my actual life story, I would condense this entire marriage into a footnote.

Who does the novel belong to? I am writing about a different reality, so I need to shape it to fit my reality. You don’t want to do the same. You don’t want to do the done thing. To take a risk, you still need to be absolutely on the margins. I am doing what I want to do.

I have been in an abusive marriage. Violence can come from love, from a very intimate person. Violence can come from all sorts of crazy situations. What are you going to do? You have to deal with it when it strikes.