My husband, William Sutcliffe, the writer, is my first reader and in many ways my most important. That … - Maggie O'Farrell

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Justice for some people is an evil for others. Good intentions, kindness, and hope will not necessarily make people happy.

Maggie O'Farrell

My husband, William Sutcliffe, the writer, is my first reader and in many ways my most important. That initial reading of the manuscript is crucial and irreplaceable and you want them to approach it as someone in a bookshop might, not knowing much about it. So I've got into this pattern of not telling Will anything about the book I'm working on. He often knows nothing about the book I'm working on at all until I give him the whole manuscript and ask him to read it. The book I'm working on at the moment he knows nothing about. No one does.

Book, Husband, Irreplaceable, Pattern, Reading, Working

Same Author Quotes

I don't believe in fate. I don't believe in cushioning your insecurities with a system of belief that tells you 'Don't worry. This may be your life but you're not in control. There is something or someone looking out for you -- it's already organised. ' It's all chance and choice, which is far more frightening.

Belief, Believe, Choice, Fate, Worry

She wanted to say, no. She wanted to say, I have a son, there is a child, this cannot happen. Because you know that no one will ever love them like you do. You know that no one will look after them like you do. You know that it's an impossibility, it's unthinkable that you could be taken away, that you will have to leave them behind.

Children, Taken, Son, Child, Leave, Love

Listen. The trees in this story are stirring, trembling, readjusting themselves. A breeze is coming in gusts off the sea, and it is almost as if the trees know, in their restlessness, in their head-tossing impatience, that something is about to happen.

Breeze, Sea, Stirring, Stories, Tree

I have two sisters, and I think siblings are always going to be irresistible for novelists. They have been throughout time and they'll continue to be.

Continue, Irresistible, Sibling, Sisters, Thinking, Throughout

Gretta sits herself down at the table. Robert has arranged everything she needs: a plate, a knife, a bowl with a spoon, a pat of butter, a jar of jam. It is in such small acts of kindness that people know they are loved.

Kindness, Knives, Loved, Pat, Small Acts, Table