Learn a language of another country and then you can go to that country: a place where the problems of your family will not follow. A language they do not speak.

It's something that I know how to do because I taught for a very long time, so I can do it, and I feel a responsibility to do it - for instance, in this situation, where I'm touring specifically for this period of time. But most writers are not public people. There are a few writers out there who really enjoy it and are good at it, and can both work and do that at the same time, but I'm not one of those people.

So there are cakes and pillows and colors galore, but underneath this more obvious patchwork quilt are places like a quiet room where you can go and hold someone's hand and not have to say anything.

I dont think ignorance is a way that you gain distance on something.

There was one thing my murderer didn't understand; he didn't understand how much a father could love his child.

The damage can fester under layers of time and change, and an ignorant, thoughtless remark can easily reopen the wound.

Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.