But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

People always talked about a mother's uncanny ability to read her children, but that was nothing compared to how children could read their mothers.

...it's closeness that does you in. Never get too close to people, son.

I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It’s greed, plain and simple. When my characters join the circus, I’m joining the circus. Although I’m happily married, I spent a great deal of time mentally living with incompatible husbands.

They were like people who run to meet, holding out their arms, but their aim is wrong; they pass each other and keep running.

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own.