William was born in Bristol, and qualified as a chartered surveyor, specialising in rural practice and forestry. He's a partner in a consultancy in Cork, and also serves on the boards of the Irish Timber Growers' Association and the Forestry Development Association.

William and Denyse live outside Cork, and have two daughters, Finola (19) and Tamzin (16).

Denyse on William Ours is something of an arranged marriage. William and I were introduced by his brother and my first cousin, who are married, but we were hardly an obvious match. He loved woodlands, I loved the desert; he was decidedly rural, I'm city born and bred; I liked to travel horizontally, and he liked to travel vertically, crawling up sheer rock faces on the end of a rope. I heard William's voice before I saw him, as he tried to get into the bathroom to use the loo, while I was lying in the bath. It was a very nice voice, and when I went downstairs, I discovered the face wasn't bad either!

William was very rugged when we met - he had a big beard and was an experienced climber (and intrepid - he once abseiled off the roof of the Ladies' College in Durham University, only to land at the feet of the principal . . . thereby ending his first stint at university). I quickly discovered that he was willing to go out of his way to make life pleasant for others, which continues to this day, but I was mostly drawn to the fact that he was such easy company - self-deprecating, sincere, and valued by his friends. The turning point for me came during an illicit weekend in Chepstow (we had to be careful not to shock his deeply Catholic mother), when we were sitting in a cosy hotel having tea, and I thought to myself, 'I could do this for a long, long time.'

We came back to live in Ireland, and I was blessed to be with someone who believed that being at home with small children was more stressful than most jobs. William's a great cook, and although we gripe about his culinary obsessions, we eat very, very well. He spoils us - tea first thing every morning, hot-water bottles on cold nights, large spiders summarily removed, and he'll drive the girls anywhere, anytime.

William's the perfect partner for a writer. He supported me financially for years, knows when to be there and when not, and keeps things running when I'm under pressure. Above all, he gives me space. We disagree about Ryanair and mechanical objects - but not sport. He wisely roars for Ireland, even when they're playing England. It means a lot to me that he loves living in Ireland.

I love William's love of trees, and we live in a woodland and have planted trees every year of our married life.

I'm proud of the fact that he was responsible for the establishment of the largest broadleaf plantation in Ireland at that time. We're now dating again, because the girls are independent, so we go off exploring West Cork and eating William's amazing picnics in wonderful places.

We're always laughing, and I've been so lucky to chance upon someone so easy-going, giving, and in tune with the things that matter. We're together 24 years now, and I'll stay with him for as long as he talks to our cats in that silly high-pitched voice that the cats adore, and which makes us crack up first thing every morning.

William on Denyse I met Denyse over dinner in my brother's house in Fulham - she was wearing a classy summer dress and looked great. When an irritating guest repeatedly lampooned her Irish accent, she was well able to handle it, and I remember thinking, 'Good on her!' The next day I took her for a walk, and when we came to the fenced-off boundary of Magdalene College, I helped her around an iron fence festooned in barbed wire and covered in thick, viscous grease. Here was a girl happy to crawl around barbed wire fences while hanging over a river to trespass into an Oxford College - clearly someone I could spend time with!

When we got married, we vowed to take separate holidays in order to pursue our different interests. We did it once - she went to Syria, and I walked the West Highland Way, and we were both completely miserable - so we had babies instead!

The advantage of living with a writer, who hates being away from her children, is that she often takes us along on research trips abroad.

Thanks to Denyse, I've found myself trapped inside one of the Pyramids during a power cut; being driven through Transylvania in a rust bucket at high speed, and lolling about on a schooner in the Whitsunday Islands. Hopscotch, with its global plot, is a particularly popular book with the rest of the family - it took us all over the place.

Denyse is incredibly generous to her family and many friends. She's a born listener and has one of the greatest gifts of all - wisdom - although I think that she puts herself and her work last too often. She has a great relationship with our daughters, and I have unending respect for the way she put her own life on hold to be with them, and yet succeeded in writing four excellent novels.

Marriage to Denyse has been wonderful. She's gutsy, opinionated and very funny. She can also be infuriating. I think I've only won one argument in all our time together, but unfortunately, I can't remember how I did it.

The other downside is that whenever we go out to dinner I might as well be on my own, because she's so busy man-watching and taking in her surroundings. A writer never stops working. The plus side is that she doesn't drink so we never argue about who's going to drive home, which, come to think of it, is a fairly good reason to hang in there for another 24 years?.