Fear could paralyse. Action was the antidote.
What news? There's nothing to tell. I'm a nun.
What she needs,' Tom said aloud 'is a husband.' Agnes said crisply, 'Well, she can't have mine.
Nevertheless, the book gave Jack a feeling he had never had before, that the past was like a story, in which one thing led to another, and the world was not a boundless mystery, but a finite thing that could be comprehended.
He had been granted his life's wish-but conditionally.
In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she's a strong character. She does change the plot. She'll often rescue the male character from some situation.