The place was a familiar as breath but as far from his life now as the moon.

Once, this whole world had been hidden beneath a shallow sea.

A fear Paul had transformed all these years, like a gifted alchemist, into anger and rebellion.

His love for her was so deeply woven with resentment that he could not untangle the two.

This is what he knew that Paul didn't: the world was precarious and sometimes cruel. He'd had to fight hard to achieve what Paul simply took for granted.

It's good to be in love.

My first job was in a nursing home - a terrible place in retrospect. It was in an old house, and the residents were so lonely. People rarely visited them. I only stayed there a couple of months, but it made a strong impression on me.