A woman's pelvis is like an hourglass with the capacity to tell time. It both creates and shelters life. When the mother's diet is insufficient, nutrients are pulled from her own teeth and bone. Women are built to be selfless.

I think it's very, very, very hard to get a book published. I never want to be one of those teachers that say, 'don't do this, ' because how sad would the world be if people didn't create art and write? But, it's not an easy journey being a writer.

And I saw for the first time how, despite the isolation of our own lives, we are always connected to our ancestors our bodies hold the memories of those who came before us, whether it is the features we inherit or a disposition that is etched into our soul.

Love stories always seem to be a spark.

You hear in the person you're destined to love the sound of those yet to be born.

A woman who loves books has a dreamer's soul, with each story she has read woven into her own.

I love art, my mother is a painter, I majored in art history at Wellesley, and as I was having my second child I was thinking, what am I going to do, I have to do something to keep myself sane, and I began to ask myself, what are the most horrific circumstances under which art can be created?

If those we love visit us when we dream, those who torment us almost always visit us when we're still awake.