Enemies are, to me, as important as friends in my life, and when they die I mourn their passing.

Picking other people's brains is an art worth cultivating.

Growing up in the English countryside seemed an interminable process. Freezing winter gave way to frosty spring, which in turn merged into chilly summer-but nothing ever, ever happened.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Where, indeed. Many a badly stung survivor, faced with the aftermath of some relative's funeral, has ruefully concluded that the victory has been won hands down by a funeral establishment - in disastrously unequal battle.

Prison walls are meant not only to keep convicts in, but to keep the would-be investigator out.

Enemies are, to me, as important as friends in my life, and when they die I mourn their passing.

A thirteen-year-old is a kaleidoscope of different personalities, if not in most ways a mere figment of her own imagination. At that age, what and who you are depends largely on what book you happen to be reading at the moment.