If my setting is new to a reader, or the concerns of the novel are new, I hope they will learn something about the world. I would like to say that they can trust that what they do learn in the novel will be accurate, because I pay a lot of attention to facts. I do a lot of research to make sure that I'm not giving them, you know, blue moons of Jupiter. It's not science fiction.

Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier.

A dog can't think that much about what he's doing, he just does what feels right.

In fact, one of the things that I really love about literary fiction is that it's one of the few kinds of writing that doesn't tell us what to think or what to buy or what to wear. We're surrounded by advertising.

Perhaps growing up meant we put our knives away and feigned ignorance of the damage.

The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.

I grew up aware of all the people I depended on and who depended on me.