For 25 years, I did take my responsibilities as a pleaser of others sufficiently seriously.

Long after Salinger sent me away, I continued to believe his standards and expectations were the best ones.

If a man wishes to truly not be written about, he would do well not to write letters to 18-year-old girls, inviting them into his life.

She felt everything too deeply, it was like the world was too much for her.

When I was 12 years old, I read Nancy Drew mysteries and biographies of Madame Curie and Florence Nightingale and books about girls who love horses or go to nursing school. I belonged to the Girl Scouts and got A's in school and rarely disobeyed my parents. I still kept a collection of Barbie dolls in my room, and I almost never spoke to boys.

The portrait of my parents is a complicated one, but lovingly drawn.

There is a theme that runs through my work, and that is: the toxic property of keeping secrets.