When you're a parent you find yourself looking at the unknown that is your child, trying to find a piece of yourself inside her, because sometimes that is what it takes to claim.

I think the 'New York Times' reviews overall tend to overlook popular fiction, whether you're a man, woman, white, black, purple or pink. I think there are a lot of readers who would like to see reviews that belong in the range of commercial fiction rather than making the blanket assumption that all commercial fiction is unworthy.

You can’t undo something that’s happened; you can’t take back a word that’s already been said out loud.

Maybe mothers - consciously or subconsciously - repelled their daughters in different ways.

I wonder if what makes a family a family isn't doing everything right all the time but, instead, giving a second chance to the people you love who do things wrong.

You live and let live, eventually that becomes enough.

Part of growing up was learning not to be quite that honest - learning when it was better to lie, rather than to hurt someone with the truth.