Even as a small child, I understood that woman had secrets, and that some of these were only to be told to daughters. In this way we were bound together for eternity.

All the characters in my books are imagined, but all have a bit of who I am in them - much like the characters in your dreams are all formed by who you are

Weapons are kept from women, but such a naming suggests that perhaps men fear our talents in war as well as our desire for peace.

I wasn't good company, that was true, and people avoided me, but that was all right. I was too busy dreaming.

That was the way illness appeared in a house, in the corners, in between floorboards, on the hooks in the closet, along with the sweaters and coats.

Those you love will not drown or burn. They will fly away.' ...'Now we both have people we love who are like birds. They have flown far from anything in this world that can hurt them. They're flying away still.

I saw the end of his life right there in that single moment. His pride, his decency, his secrets, his death.