I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It's greed, plain and simple.

Point of view is not something I consciously decide. Almost always, when I come up with a plot I find that the point of view has automatically arrived with it, part and parcel of the story.

I spend about a year between novels

No couple buying wedding rings wants to be reminded that someday one of them will have to accept the other one's ring from a nurse or an undertaker.

And she thought what a clean, simple life she would have led if it weren't for love.

She was good at talking with young people. She seemed to view them as interesting foreigners.

I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing