Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character.
Sue Monk KiddOur earlier lives aren't wrong, they are just pre-construction. Our lives are meant to unfold, to evolve, and that's good. The only wrong thing, perhaps, is permanently hesitating on the verge of courage, which would prevent this process from taking place.
Sue Monk KiddIt was the first time I'd ever said the words to another person, and the sound of them broke open my heart.
Sue Monk KiddHe'd gone to church for forty years and was only getting worse. It seemed like this should tell God something.
Sue Monk KiddMy children have always existed at the deepest center of me, right there in the heart/hearth, but I struggled with the powerful demands of motherhood, chafing sometimes at the way they pulled me away from my separate life, not knowing how to balance them with my unwieldy need for solitude and creative expression.
Sue Monk Kidd