Myrna could spend happy hours browsing bookcases. She felt if she could just get a good look at a person’s bookcase and their grocery cart, she’d pretty much know who they were.

Aid workers, when handing out food to starving people, quickly learn that the people fighting for it at the front are the people who need it least. It's the people sitting quietly at the back, too weak to fight, who need it the most. And so too with tragedy.

The night is a strawberry.

A good novel is a good novel, pointe finale. And I think what I'm writing is exactly that.

How much more courage it took to be kind than to be cruel.

The four sayings that lead to wisdom: I was wrong I'm sorry I don't know I need help

Fear lives in the head. And courage lives in the heart. The job is to get from one to the other.