Though I often looked for one, I finally had to admit that there could be no cure for Paris.

Don't tell readers what to think. Let the action speak for itself.

... and yet he could also be very charming, in a bookish, infinitely apologetic way.

I'd had my share of rain. My mother's illness ... had weighed on me, but the years before had been heavy, too. I was only twenty eight.

I also liked to look around at the houses surrounding the park and wonder about the people who filled them, what kinds of marriages they had and how they loved or hurt each other on any given day, and if they were happy, and whether they thought happiness was a sustainable thing.

I preferred to look at the sea, which said nothing and never made you feel alone.

Sometimes I wish we could rub out all of our mistakes and start fresh, from the beginning,' I said. 'And sometimes I think there isn't anything to us but our mistakes.