But she has gathered that Americans, in spite of their public declarations of affection, in spite of their miniskirts and bikinis, in spite of their hand-holding on the street and lying on top of each other on the Cambridge Common, prefer their privacy.

It didn't matter that I wore clothes from Sears; I was still different. I looked different. My name was different. I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different.

Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world as you can.You will not regret it.

She has the gift of accepting her life.

Fiction is the only way I know a human being can inhabit the mind of another human being.

She supposed that all those years of loving a person who was dishonest had taught her a few things.

I dream of writing a book like LOVERS some day. It is so spare but so rich. It is history made intimate, and a masterpiece of compression.