My change from girl to boy was far less dramatic than the distance anybody travels from infancy to adulthood.

On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide- it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese- the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope.

I remember liking to write stories pretty early on. In fourth or fifth grade, they would give us the beginning of a story, and we were supposed to finish it. I remember liking that. But I didn't think about deciding to become a writer until high school at about the age of 16.

Everyone struggles against despair, but it always wins in the end. It has to. It's the thing that lets us say goodbye.

Lux spent the ride dialing the radio for her favorite song. "It makes me crazy," she said. "You know they're playing it somewhere, but you have to find it.

The time has to be right and the heart willing.

The television replaced the sound of conversation that was missing from my grandparents' lives.