Once you know some things, you can't unknow them. It's a burden that can never be given away.

It was as though I had one map inside my head and it led to the man who was waiting for me. Someone who was alone - maybe even more alone - than I was.

The best way to die is when your living

My grandmother was overwhelmed by what was happening to us. She ahd moved back into the past because the here and the now was too terrible.

That's why there are ten gates to pass through before you reach the garden. If life were easy there would be one gate. There would be no gates at all.

In losing a friend, she is reminded of all she has lost and all she stands to lose again. There is nothing to be done to make it any easier. We all grieve alone.

That is the joy of reading fiction: when all is said and done, the novel belongs to the reader and his or her imagination.