I feel I'm able to get rid of any demons lurking in my psyche through my writing, which leaves me free to create all of this and to enjoy our family life, stepping away from all the fictional traumas and the dramas. If I write about family in crisis, then I won't have to live through it, I guess.

What could you give me," I ask, my voice shaking, "to make me forget ... that you forgot about me?

Close a door, and you'd still feel a breeze through the window.

What is right, in the end, is not always what it seems to be, and some rules are better broken.

Is it really worth dying for the person you love?

Sara: "You are so brave," I tell her, and then I smile. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you." To my surprise, Kate shakes her head hard. Her voice is a feather, a thread. "No Mommy," she says. "You'd be sick.

That,” she says, “was never here before.