“It’s odd, isn’t it, how squeamish we are about love as a topic. It’s fine for a hallmarked classic – Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina – but if the heroine is a modern girl commuting in to a dull job on the Central Line from Epping, we come all over contemptuous. We use words and phrases like shallow and frothy and only fit for women on sunbeds (so RUDE to readers).”