I've been a little bit obsessed with religion, without being a religious person, for about a decade.

If anything, he seemed a little lonely, all too ready to open his heart at the slightest sign of interst.

I don't really distinguish between sympathy and honesty when I'm writing. The two go together - I'm interested in inhabiting my characters, seeing the world through their eyes.

Because, really, what was worse than lying wide-awake in the dark, watching your life drip away, one irreplaceable minute after another?

I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.

Back then, when everybody thought the world would last forever, nobody had time for anything.

From a distance, it makes perfect sense that the people and the things you think will save you are the very ones that have the power to disappoint you most bitterly, but up close it can hit you as a bewildering surprise.