I often heard about his cases and I often sat in on his trials. In the late 1960s when I was growing up I wanted to be a crusader like him but I didn't want to wear a suit and commute.

My book is traditional. It runs counter to the post-modern spirit.

Everybody has a world, and that world is completely hidden until we begin to inquire. As soon as we do, that entire world opens to us and yields itself. And you see how full and complex it is.

accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.

I was aware that there is an expectation that writers inevitably falter at this stage, that they fail to live up to the promise of their first successful book, that the next book never pleases the way the prior one did. It simply increased my sense of being challenged.

At one level you're condemned to the voice you have. But within those confines, you have a certain amount of freedom to range among your possible voices.

What some people interpret as brooding melancholy is serenity. I don't feel required to grasp all the time.