Andrew O'Hagan

It's just an enlargement of the present.

You're always back there.

It's always returning.

There's a kind of Scott Fitzgerald sort of endless return of the past rolling back towards you all the hours of your life.

And this is a book that sort of really travels into the centre of that thought.

There's an image of those boys, even as one of them is facing death, there's an image of perpetual youth in front of him.

And it isn't some bleedy, distant image from the sentimental past.

It's a reality inside him.

He's looking at the world with the same eyes.

He might be older.

They all might be older.

It's the same eyes.

And it's worth remembering that.

You know, it was a joy to write this book.

I have to tell you, you know, it's not always, in fact, almost never is.

Let me put it that way.

a joy to write.

It's hard work and it's the sweat of your brow and it's an uphill struggle and all those cliches.

But in fact, with this one, I just felt it rolling towards me.

You know, sometimes you just know that it's your story to tell.