Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness.

I first heard the story of Agnes Magnusdottir when I was an exchange student in the north of Iceland.

To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things.

If I believed everything everyone had ever told me about my family I'd be a sight more miserable than I am now

As though prayer could simply pluck sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the only way to smooth a mistake is to let it all unravel.

People speak of the fear of the blank canvas as though it is a temporary hesitation, a trembling moment of self-doubt. For me it was more like being abducted from my bed by a clown, thrust into a circus arena with a wicker chair, and told to tame a pissed-off lion in front of an expectant crowd.

Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness.