Being a good mother, it seemed to me, meant you ran the risk of losing your child.

I used to pretend that I was just passing through this family on my way to my real one.

So much of marriage was implicit and nonverbal. Had I gotten so complacent I'd forgotten to communicate?

Dante believed God punished suicides by trapping the person's spirit in a tree trunk. On Judgment Day, they were the only sinners who didn't get their souls back, because they tried to get rid of them once before.

Saying goodbye to the people you love isn't easy

When you love someone you let them take care of you.

A girl who is thirteen-which is hard, and difficult, and beautiful, and painful, and exhilarating.