Thank God Roxane Coss had not fallen in love with one of the Russians. She doubted they could make it up the stairs without stopping for a cigarette and telling at least one loud story that no one could understand.

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

If you want to write and can't figure out how to do it, try this: Pick an amount of time to sit at your desk every day. Start with twenty minutes, say, and work up as quickly as possible to as much time as you can spare. Do you really want to write? Sit for two hours a day.

shame should be reserved for the things we choose to do, not the circumstances that life puts on us

I am the person who is appropriating stories that are not mine and turning them into a book.

The light was cut to lace by the trees that had grown so thick with leaves in the last few months.

The love between humans is the thing that nails us to the earth.