Writing fiction is very different to writing non-fiction. I love writing novels, but on history books, like my biographies of Stalin or Catherine the Great or Jerusalem, I spend endless hours doing vast amounts of research. But it ends up being based on the same principle as all writing about people: and that is curiosity!

I much prefer writing fiction. History books, for me, are very hard work, very serious.

I don't think Jerusalem should be controlled 100% by religious people of any denomination, sect, or religion - even my own.

Simon Sebag Montefiore Quotes