Some people have a gift for making you feel okay, just by the fact of their presence.

A story, after all, does not only belong to the one who is telling it. It belongs, in equal measure, to the one who is listening.

With Amaryllis in Blueberry, Christina Meldrum has woven a beautifully layered, intensely emotional story, with unforgettable characters whose voices will remain with you long after their secrets have been revealed.

It's rather disconcerting to sit around a table in a critique of someone else's work, only to realize that the antagonist in the story is none other than yourself, and no one present thinks you're a very likable character.

Some people have a gift for making you feel okay, just by the fact of their presence.

To be a writer you have to write -- and no academic degree is going to do the writing for you.

But there's no emergency kit for marriage. No neat plan you can turn to when the ground shifts beneath your feet.