Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character.

Sometimes you want to fall on your knees and thank God in heaven for all the poor news reporting that goes on in the world.

Every person on the face of the earth makes mistakes, Lily. Every last one. We're all so human. Your mother made a terrible mistake, but she tried to fix it.' 'Good night,' I said, and rolled onto my side. 'There is nothing perfect,' August said from the doorway. 'There is only life.

My ultimate authority is the divine voice in my own soul. Period.

You can't stop your heart from loving, really -- it's like standing out there in the ocean yelling at the waves to stop.

There is no place so awake and alive as the edge of becoming. But more than that, birthing the kind of woman who can authentically say, 'My soul is my own,' and then embody it in her life, her spirituality, and her community is worth the risk and hardship.

I don't hold to the idea that God causes suffering and crisis. I just know that those things come along and God uses them. We think life should be a nice, clean ascending line. But inevitably something wanders onto the scene and creates havoc with the nice way we've arranged life to fall in place.