I believed my story would be helpful to young women my daughters age, who are still in the process of forming themselves as women, and in need of encouragement to remain true to themselves. – Joyce Maynard
The vehemence with which certain critics have chosen not simply to criticize what Ive written, but to challenge my writing this story at all, speaks of what the book is about: fear of disapproval. – Joyce Maynard
More than any other setting – more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel – Ill put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy, tragedy and intrigue. – Joyce Maynard
Not only did I avoid speaking of Salinger I resisted thinking about him. I did not reread his letters to me. The experience had been too painful. – Joyce Maynard
There is a certain even-handed justice in Time; and for what he takes away he gives us something in return. He robs us of elasticity of limb and spirit, and in its place he brings tranquility and repose—the mild autumnal weather of the soul. – Alexander Smith, “An Essay on an Old Subject”