Sometimes,' Sylvie Said, 'one Can Mistake Gratitude

Life Wasn't About Becoming, Was It? It Was About Being.

They Said Love Made You Strong, But In Louise's Opinion It Made You Weak. It Corkscrewed Into Your Heart And You Couldn't Get It Out Again, Not Without Ripping Your Heart To Pieces.

Men Had No Purpose On Earth Whereas Women Were Gods Walking Unrecognized Among Them.

Julia's Vocabulary Was "chock-full" Of Strangely Archaic Words - "spiffing," "crumbs," "jeepers" - That Seemed To Have Originated In Some Prewar Girls' Annual Rather Than In Julia's Own Life. For Jackson, Words Were Functional, They Helped You Get To Places And Explain Things. For Julia, They Were Freighted With Inexplicable Emotion.

Because I Write Fiction, I Don't Write Autobiography, And To Me They Are Very Different Things. The First-person Narrative Is A Very Intimate Thing, But You Are Not Addressing Other People As 'i' - You Are Inhabiting That 'i.'