What is it about childhood that never lets you go, even when you're so wrecked it's hard to believe you ever were a child?

One day can bend your life.

But my father, a thief in many ways, had robbed me of my concentration.

Critics have a problem with sentimentality. Readers do not. I write for readers.

This is part of what a family is about, not just love. It's knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.

Silence was his escape, but silence is rarely a refuge.

Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it. Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others. Don't assume that it's too late to get involved.