I believe, in a funny way, the job of the novelist is to be out there on the fringes and speaking for an experience that has not really been spoken for.

Still when I lost her, I lost sight of any landmark that might have led me someplace happier, to some more populated or congenial life.

As I stood with her on the platform - she impatient, tapping her foot, leaning forward to look down the tracks - it seemed more than I could bear to see her go. Francis was around the corner, buying her a book to read on the train. 'I don't want you to leave,' I said. 'I don't want to, either.' 'Then don't.' 'I have to.' We stood looking at each other. It was raining. She looked at me with her rain-colored eyes. Camilla, I love you,' I said. 'Let's get married.

As much fun as it is to read a book, writing a book is one level deeper than that.

When you feel homesick,’ he said, ‘just look up. Because the moon is the same wherever you go.

There's an expectation these days that novels - like any other consumer product - should be made on a production line, with one dropping from the conveyor belt every couple of years.

Who was it said that coincidence was just God’s way of remaining anonymous?