By the time Joan of Arc was 16 and had proclaimed herself the virgin warrior sent by God to deliver France from her enemies, the English, she had been receiving the counsel of angels for three years. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
Like all holy figures whose earthly existence separates them from the broad mass of humanity, a saint is a story, and Joan of Arc’s is like no other. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
In terms of going back and forth between fiction and nonfiction – in which I’ll include memoir, biography, and true crime – is that one relieves the other. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
Because the kind of nonfiction I write has a plot, the events and transactions that make up a life, nonfiction offers me a break from plotting. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
Shorter work – personal essays and book reviews – allow me to take a break from working on a book, which is good for the book and for its author. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
I work in a small study on the top floor of a brownstone in Brooklyn – it’s about 75 square feet, 11 taken up by book shelves along one wall. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
Madame Bovary’ advanced slowly, as slowly as it would have to have, given an author who held himself accountable to each word, that it be the right word, of which there could be only one. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote
A lot of writers dwell on their relationships with their mothers, but only a few are worth reading. Kathryn Harrison Read Quote