On the day I was moving to London, with the taxi waiting out front to take me to the airport, Isabella handed me a journal with a green cover and said: “If you’re going to put us through this, you’d better write a book.” She’d always had faith in me as a writer and saw before I did that I would never have a better opportunity. It was a very wise and generous gift. I filled that journal and two other volumes during our two years in London. I never could have imagined that I’d have such a wealth of material.