Newspapers are even worse for me than ice cream; headlines, and the big issues that generate the headlines, are pure fat.

There's a lot of ignorance about how long it takes to write a novel. There's a lot of ignorance about how long a novel is in your head before you start to write it.

The lie, of course, is more interesting.

In increments both measurable and not, our childhood is stolen from us -- not always in one momentous event but often in a series of small robberies, which add up to the same loss.

When Jack Burns needed to hold his mother's hand, his fingers could see in the dark.

My dear boy, please don’t put a label on me—don’t make me a category before you get to know me!

If I have any advantage, maybe, as a writer, it is that I don't think I'm very interesting. I mean, beginning a novel with the last sentence is a pretty plodding way to spend your life.