Like Flannery O'Connor, McCorkle's genius is to give us both philosophical speculation and a riveting narrative filled with unforgettable characters. Great writing, poignancy, humor, wisdom-all are in abundance here. Jill McCorkle is one of the South's greatest writers; she is also one of America's.

I think that's what I love about writing, is the ability to try to, in a sense, take a vacation from yourself and try to enter the sensibility of another time, another character, another place.

Peter Geye has rendered the Minnesota north shore in all its stark, dangerous beauty, and it is the perfect backdrop for this deeply moving story of conflict and forgiveness. Safe from the Sea is a remarkable debut.

Faulkner came from my region and taught me how you could write about a place.

You got one choice at the beginning but if you didn't choose right, things got narrow real quick.

One thing's sure and nothing surer. The rich get richer and the poor get- children

I learnt how to hunt rattlesnakes with an eagle for Serena.