‘I never planned to be a writer at all'

‘I never planned to be a writer at all. For years, maybe even today, sometimes I think, "What exactly am I going to do with my life What is my career going to be? I'm only 80, for God's sake!...

I am fascinated by endurance. Human beings really do lead lives of quiet desperation. It's admirable really. Families are basically the only group that can't easily split up. It is my version of a disaster movie, you put people in a burning building and see how they behave under duress...

My plots are just time, if you think about it. Times passes and eventually someone will die and somebody will get married. I would love to have a real plot. I don't care whodunnit. It happened. What can I say? They're dead!'

Anne Tyler, author of 26 novels, including The Accidental Tourist, Ladder of Years and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, in the Sunday Times Culture.