"This is an outlandish notion only if you don’t know how a person can destroy you by the simple act of disappearing."

"The swing set is rusted. The middle-class fence marks the boundaries of his prison. The wife is the warden. The children, well. They are the reason; it is for them that he chooses to remain unhappy, without you."

"Sometimes there’s nothing better on earth than someone asking you a question."

"Men come to insert themselves, they turn a girl into a city. When they leave, their residue remains, the discoloration on the wood where the sun came through every day for many days, until one day it didn’t. Why are you smiling? Maggie asks. Because, he says, I want to kiss you."

The stunningly told story of three different women in the USA, told with a force that , yes, only a woman can afford. Purely a man's read in my opinion, for those who think they know what women's desires are made of...

The best book I read for years I think.

Have a great holiday,

mk