He would work through the night and sleep until lunch. There wasn't really much else to do. Make something, and die.

How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?

When people ask, "Is there any advice you'd give a young writer?," I say write short stories. They afford lots of failure. Pastiche is a great way to start.

Nothing was to be lost by beginning at the beginning.

She loved him, though not at this particular moment.

Let his name be cleared and everyone else adjust their thinking. He had put in time, now they must do the work. His business was simple. Find Cecilia and love her, marry her and live without shame.

She sleepwalked from moment to moment, and whole months slipped by without memory, without bearing the faintest imprint of her conscious will.