"That was the nature of history, of course: notional, partial, unknowable, a record made by the victors."
- Kate Morton
"History in the storyteller's hand was a potent force indeed,...."
"Every so often a reader tells me, somewhat disappointedly, that their family doesn't have any secrets. To which I always reply that of course it does, they just don't know them yet. For where there ar..."
"To abandon a child, she had once said to someone, when she thought Cassandra couldn't hear, was an act so cold, so careless, it refused forgiveness."
"They were young; time hadn't yet rubbed at them, polishing their differences and sharpening their opinions..."
"...home is a magnet that lures back even its most abstracted children. But whether tomorrow or years from now, I cannot guess."
"Had any poet adequately described the wretched ugliness of a loved one turned inside out with grief?"
"You make a life out of what you have, not what you're missing."
"They'd fallen into an easy routine, the three of them. Breakfast together in the morning, then Hughie would leave for work and she and Nell would get started in the house. Lil found she liked having a..."
"As Linus grew into his teens, became even more awkward, with long, gangly arms and odd ginger hairs sprouting from his spotty chin, Georgiana blossomed into a beautiful child, beloved of all on the es..."