I could tell from Anna's face that she had already told him about dancing in Saint Petersburg and that the memory weighed on her heavily. What monstrous things, our pasts, especially when they have been lovely. She had told a secret and now had the sadness of wondering how much deeper she might dig in order to keep the first secret fed.
Colum McCann
Related My mother was a reporter, and though she quit when they had kids, she still loved it. She told me ab... CANDACE CAMP She told about how the chaplain came to tell her that her husband had died and all the trauma that s... JOE DOHERTY When had she stopped being a child? The first time a guy whistled at her out of a car window when sh... LEIGH BARDUGO She didn’t understand why it was happening,” he said. “I had to tell her she would die. Her so... JOHN GREEN Midland City had a goddess of discord all its own. This was a goddess who could not dance, would not... KURT VONNEGUT She left feeling dirty, and on the bus ride home she knew that what her uncles told her had come tru... DAVID BERGEN She smiled. She knew she was dying. But it did not matter any longer. She had known something which ... AYN RAND As she had been walking from the ward to that room, she had felt such pure hatred that now she had n... PAULO COELHO Yet her experience had consisted less in a series of pure disappointments than in a series of substi... THOMAS HARDY Melissa knew she didn't play real well (in the first half). She took that one shot and it barely tou... DAVE KERSCHBAUMER There was something in her eyes! Her eyes were expressive and from the first day that they met, they... AVIJEET DAS What made more sense was that the bargain she was bound to was to go on living as she had been doing... ALICE MUNRO Jo's face was a study next day, for the secret rather weighed upon her, and she found it hard not to... LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Our coach told us she would be the X-factor, and she was. She was amazing. We had our hands in her f... AMY DONOVAN It was like they waited to tell each other things that had never been told before. What she had to s... CARSON MCCULLERS What do you want out of life?" I asked, and I used to ask that all the time of girls. I don't k... JACK KEROUAC When it was over, she gathered him in her arms. And told him the terrible irony of her life. Th... MELINA MARCHETTA I went to the property and spoke to Marion Lent and viewed the circumstances, which were not up to e... DONNA CAVANAUGH She was in fear for her life, ... She had been told many times if she left him, harm would come to (... CHIEF JOSEPH I told a girl it would bring her luck, so she patted him and returned about three hours later saying... DAFYDD JAMES He had had to be father and mother to her, and he had taken to his tasks with determination, seeking... PAULA BRACKSTON Perhaps she had received diamonds, Strike thought; she had always said she didn't care for such thin... ROBERT GALBRAITH He remembered that she was pretty, and, more, that she had a special grace in the intimacy of life. ... JOSEPH CONRAD I asked her how much she had to drink, and she replied that she had a couple of beers. BILL KELLY She found herself wondering at what point in her life she had ceased to be Gulliver and had become t... ERICA BAUERMEISTER She had thought she'd already reached her capacity for pain and had no room inside her for more. But... KRISTIN CASHORE Time to hunt?" Cattie-brie cried, satisfied that she had gotten her point across. She rose beside Wu... R.A. SALVATORE I'm not certain, but I have a little gypsy blood in me. And my mother always told me that her gr... SAM RAIMI How did I love her? Let me count the ways. The freckles on her nose like the shadow of a s... LAUREN OLIVER And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. BIBLE He is so beautiful," she thought, aching from the sadness that she saw in his eyes. In the late-afte... SHIRA ANTHONY I had no clue what it was about at first. She just told me if I could throw the dice and count I cou... MARTHA BREWER When I was about 13, I met the coolest, chicest young woman I had ever seen. She was a neighbor of m... NARCISO RODRIGUEZ He, who had done more than any human being to draw her out of the caves of her secret, folded life, ... ANAïS NIN This was something she would keep hidden within herself, maybe in place of the knot of pain and ange... JODI PICOULT She was trying to say something else; she was trying to say that the inability to articulate what on... NICK HORNBY When had she stopped being a child? The first time a guy had whistled at her out of a car window whe... LEIGH BARDUGO Then, slowly, my feet settled to the ground. Before I had taken six steps I sagged like a sail when ... PATRICK ROTHFUSS We had been following (the power points) and figured this had a chance of happening. The thing I tol... MARTIN APPEL although she went home that night feeling happier than she had ever been in her short life, she did ... E. LOCKHART He had appeared beside her because she had wanted him to. She had called him to her, and was calling... ALICE HOFFMAN The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she l... FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the LORD, and that he had spoken these ... BIBLE (She) tells him that she loves him, tells him that she wants to be with him again sexually, so she d... BARBARA MATTHEWS Later Buddy told me the woman was on a drug that would make her forget she'd had any pain and that w... SYLVIA PLATH Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Jace had looked at her then, the blaze of fai... CASSANDRA CLARE She was in fear for her life, ... She had been told many times by Rafael that if she left him that h... CHIEF JOSEPH He wondered how it could have taken him so long to realize he cared for her, and he told her so, and... NEIL GAIMAN ...this refinement and delicacy were what Cale adored; but Cale had been beaten into shape, hammered... PAUL HOFFMAN There might have been prettier women in the room but, when she turned those babies on, fluttered her... THOMM QUACKENBUSH There was no real need for her to tell them that yet again, but that was all right with her. She was... DAVID WEBER I had already won three times as project director, so I told her if she was serious about this, she ... DAWNA STONE I wandered over across the hall where they were showing a short movie about vasectomies. Much later ... DENIS JOHNSON But then she remembered something else, just a flash: looking up at Damon’s face in the woods and ... L.J. SMITH My mother told me many stories about her childhood in Cuba. Living there had a profound impact on he... RACHEL KUSHNER We do not know if she collapsed because of overwhelming joy, extreme surprise, grave disappointment,... KYOKO YOSHIDA She was incredibly responsible in the workplace, [but] she was incredibly socially immature. Greg [S... LINDA WOJAS When The Queen invited the Olympians to the Palace, I was first in line to speak to her. She said sh... NICOLA ADAMS We need a place," she said, "just for us. It would be so secret that we would never tell anyone in t... KATHERINE PATERSON She suddenly understood why she had let him kiss her in the diner, why she had wanted him at all. HOLLY BLACK Fifteen years of yes's had beaten Mrs. Gilbert. Fifteen further years of that incessant unaffirmativ... F. SCOTT FITZGERALD Sissy had two great failings. She was a great lover and a great mother. She had so much of tendernes... BETTY SMITH She had a new secret, the strenght of the moon, looking at her SUSAN ENGBERG She had grown older. And he loved her more now than he had loved her when he understood her better, ... MICHAEL ONDAATJE (She) told me that her car had broken down three and a half blocks down. She really needed help. Cou... DENISE KRAFT She was confused. One of the questions she had was, 'Did someone go to jail for it?' It hurt to tell... CONNIE TRUJILLO They told her she would be freed if she made the video. She was also told they had killed another Am... ELLEN TUTTLE And when she started becoming a “young lady,” and no one was allowed to look at her because she ... STEPHEN CHBOSKY She always had a smile on her face. She was very upbeat, happy. She was a good Christian. She had so... JENNIFER CZAJKA His hands tightened on her shoulders as the truth washed over him. My God, she really had told him y... CAROLYN JEWEL I had asked her about it when she was here. She [said], 'Oh, I don't know,' and I said, 'Well, keep ... CHANITA OLDS Margaret told me once that she still had the picture I drew over 20 years ago and that it was hangin... JODI RUCINSKI She hasn't been asking about her mother as much as she did in the beginning, but she needs to be tol... ENRIQUE SALAS She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, ... KEN FOLLETT She tried to remember all the times she had spoken to him. She replayed every moment she could remem... MAHITA VAS The months passed away. Slowly a great fear came over Viola, a fear that would hardly ever leave her... BARRY PAIN Don’t look at me like that, I see those pink cheeks when you talk about him,” she observed. “I... BEVERLY L. ANDERSON She wasn’t afraid of difficulties; what frightened her was being forced to choose one particular p... PAULO COELHO She was a creature of the deep, and there she must return, or perish. Toby understood that, but it h... JULIET MARILLIER Go, lovely rose! Tell her that wastes her time and me That now she knows, When I resemble her to the... EDMUND WALLER Our client is a bit confused, although the translator had already told her that it was a life senten... HAPOSAN SIHOMBING My gran had always told me that a woman--any woman worth her salt--could do whatever she had to. CHARLAINE HARRIS I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES (All the grief she had suffered over her lifetime had moulded her face into a mask of eternal sadnes... JEAN SASSON She couldn’t walk away from him again. Her heart couldn’t take it and she didn’t think his cou... KATIE REUS The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. It was a fact. She... HAN KANG She raised her head when she heard my step, and her gaze met my own, over the matron's dipping shoul... SARAH WATERS You have so much to offer, she was often told, as if she had a tray of cigarettes and candy perpetua... LILY KING Beauvoir left their home wanting to call his wife and tell her how much he loved her, and then tell ... LOUISE PENNY When she came to her senses again she cut off all contact with him. It had not been easy, but she ha... STIEG LARSSON Now now,” he said, setting his hand on her shoulder. He didn’t even see her turn. One moment she... MATT TOMERLIN Actually, coach Taylor had gotten on the field before Mr. Dunne arrived and she had told us that she... ANGELA EHRHARD Hayley had two strikes on her, and I told her she needed to just center up. And she ended up with a ... LORI ALEXANDER That was at the State Meet and we just told her to do what she had to do to win the race. She had ru... DAVE FEDERICO But Lucy had been alone too much of her life, and in her loneliness she had constructed a vision of ... ANN PATCHETT Diane Lane's face mirrored every conflicting emotion about how she felt about what she'd done. It ha... ADRIAN LYNE That night, she told me how much she was tired of hurting her mom and her dad. I still remember her ... CINDY GARCIA She looked like she had been beaten up, bruised. She had bruises all over her face, her tongue had b... BERNADETTE MCELROY Before her marriage she had thought that she had love within her grasp; but since the happiness whic... GUSTAVE FLAUBERT In their own brief conversations, he had the distinct impression that she was toying with him, verba... DIANA J. OAKS
More Colum McCann
We have all heard of these things before. The love letter arriving as the teacup falls. The guitar s... COLUM MCCANN Very seldom in my fiction have I directly used the stories people have told me. I think ripping off ... COLUM MCCANN About 25 years ago, I took a bicycle across the United States. I soon found out that the greatest it... COLUM MCCANN I'm only telling you on the truth," he said. "If you can't stand the truth, don't ask for it. COLUM MCCANN The contemporary American novelist benefits in a way from being ignored. It makes you angrier and ma... COLUM MCCANN I don't believe the world's a particularly beautiful place, but I do believe in redemption. COLUM MCCANN He's at ease, his body sculpted to the music, his shoulder searching the other shoulder, his right t... COLUM MCCANN I think literature can make familiar the unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar is very much about the dispo... COLUM MCCANN If you're a writer, you know there are ways in which we don't know what we're doing at a... COLUM MCCANN When I come home, I say I'm coming home to Dublin. When I'm in Dublin, I say I'm going h... COLUM MCCANN It's not very fashionable, but I love life, and I believe that things disappear and reappear and... COLUM MCCANN I don't believe a poet has a better hold on truth or morality than a fiction writer has. And I d... COLUM MCCANN The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough. COLUM MCCANN He might have been naive, but he didn't care; he said he's rather die with his heart on his sleeve t... COLUM MCCANN In a certain way, novelists become unacknowledged historians, because we talk about small, tiny, lit... COLUM MCCANN ...and it strikes her, as she walks, that borders, like hatred, are exaggerated precisely because ot... COLUM MCCANN I had enough electricity in my booty to jump-start the whole of New York City. COLUM MCCANN No shame in saying that I felt a loneliness drifting through me. Funny how it was, everyone perched ... COLUM MCCANN I know already that I will return to this day whenever I want to. I can bid it alive. Preserve it. T... COLUM MCCANN Words are good for saying what things are, but sometimes they don't function for what things aren't. COLUM MCCANN One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. New York had a w... COLUM MCCANN I sit there thinking about how much courage it takes to live an ordinary life. COLUM MCCANN What Corrigan wanted was a fully believable God, one you could find in the grime of the everyda... COLUM MCCANN With all respects to heaven, I like it here. COLUM MCCANN Corrigan told me once that Christ was quite easy to understand. He went where He was supposed t... COLUM MCCANN ...it was necessary to love silence, but before you could love silence you had to have noise. COLUM MCCANN There are moments we return to, now and always. Family is like water - it has a memory of what it on... COLUM MCCANN Nobody falls halfway COLUM MCCANN People think they know the mystery of living in your skin. They don't. There's no one who knows exce... COLUM MCCANN Everything was fabulous, even our breakdowns. COLUM MCCANN I guess this is what marriage is, or was, or could be. You drop the mask. You allow the fatigue in. ... COLUM MCCANN She's always thought that one of the beauties of New York is that you can be from anywhere and withi... COLUM MCCANN The repeated lies become history, but they don't necessarily become the truth. COLUM MCCANN There are rocks deep enough in this earth that no matter what the rupture, they will never see the s... COLUM MCCANN She was tired of everyone wanting to go to heaven, nobody wanting to die. The only thing worth griev... COLUM MCCANN The simple things come back to us. They rest for a moment by our ribcages then suddenly reach in and... COLUM MCCANN I gave them all the truth and none of the honesty. COLUM MCCANN Good days, they come around the oddest corners. COLUM MCCANN Yet she likes complications. She wishes she could turn and say: I like people who unbalance me. COLUM MCCANN People are good or half good or a quarter good, and it changes all the time- but even on the best da... COLUM MCCANN Literature can remind us that not all life is already written down: there are still so many stories ... COLUM MCCANN The thing about love is that we come alive in bodies not our own. COLUM MCCANN Some people think love is the end of the road, and if you're lucky enough to find it, you stay there... COLUM MCCANN Rather he consoled himself with the fact that, in the real world, when he looked closely into the da... COLUM MCCANN There's a part of me that thinks perhaps we go on existing in a place even after we've left it. COLUM MCCANN Memory has a heavy backspin, yet it’s still impossible to land exactly where we took off. COLUM MCCANN We are being bought off by our affair with the contemporary drug of choice: ease. COLUM MCCANN It was as if they wanted to take their older bodies and put their younger hearts inside. COLUM MCCANN Cynicism is easy. An optimist is a braver cynic. COLUM MCCANN Harry had worked his way through the American Dream and come to the conclusion that is was composed ... COLUM MCCANN Nothing was simple, certainly not simplification. COLUM MCCANN I recalled the myth that I had once heard as a university student – thirty-six hidden saints in th... COLUM MCCANN But Austria, Switzerland and parts of Belgium speak a different sort of German. COLUM JOYCE We play hardball with people who don't respect [the standards]. We impose an awful lot of discipline... COLUM JOYCE One of the problems that we found with the Web was that it gave people so much innovative capability... COLUM JOYCE This was a great chance to honor both teams in what turned out to be a really successful season. BETH MCCANN We had a great tournament and we have no reason to hang our heads. We have a young team and that hur... BETH MCCANN She's doing quite well with the team. She really beefs up our defensive line. BETH MCCANN This was good practice for next weekend. BETH MCCANN My parents aren't giving any pressure on distance, ... This will be my decision, totally. It will be... BRYAN MCCANN There is more emotion playing defense, ... If you make a mistake but are going hard, you can still b... BRYAN MCCANN I have offers from UAB , SMU , Northwestern and Stanford, ... Stanford offered toward the end of my ... BRYAN MCCANN [It is the] jobs of groups like us to make sure that doesn't happen. Anytime there is a local screen... BRYAN MCCANN My parents aren't giving any pressure on distance, ... This will be my decision, totally. It will be... BRYAN MCCANN There is more emotion playing defense, ... If you make a mistake but are going hard, you can still ... BRYAN MCCANN I have offers from UAB , SMU , Northwestern and Stanford, ... Stanford offered toward the end of my ... BRYAN MCCANN [Devine] is going to be a great pitcher in this league someday, BRIAN MCCANN It was greatest moment I've ever had on the baseball field. Everything just felt right, and it was a... BRIAN MCCANN You never expect to hit a home run off a guy like that, ... He's the best pitcher in baseball. He's ... BRIAN MCCANN He threw the ball OK. In the second inning, he wasn't hitting his locations like he wanted to. But h... BRIAN MCCANN I was going to go up hacking, ... Pitcher on deck. Two outs. He can start throwing his dirtiest stuf... BRIAN MCCANN He's just a starting pitcher. He's got three pitches, and he can throw them all for strikes. With hi... BRIAN MCCANN I tried to hurry up the throw and it sailed on me. It's terrible. BRIAN MCCANN has calluses older than McCann. The kid was 83 days old when Clemens broke in with the Red Sox. He w... BRIAN MCCANN Class AA is where you prove you can play, where you prove you can hit consistently good pitching. Ev... BRIAN MCCANN He's got great stuff. He's got about eight pitches. I put something down and he throws whatever. He ... BRIAN MCCANN We all kind of put in that extra effort to make sure the job gets done. It's getting progressively h... BOB MCCANN Based on the new rules, Michigan probably now has the strictest mining laws in the country. BOB MCCANN Once that happened, the disputes were resolved and both parties are able to move on. BOB MCCANN The goal is to get this plan into workable shape. BOB MCCANN I was a bit of a late developer, and everyone was saying, 'Whatever you do, don't shave,'... RORY MCCANN In the business I meet some beautiful women, but to be honest, 80 per cent of them are raving lunati... RORY MCCANN You shouldn't intervene. No citizen should feel compelled unless they see something that is exactly ... KELLY MCCANN Down there, basketball is the big thing. Some of my friends that I've known since kindergarten are s... ALEX MCCANN I didn't start playing until I was 12, but I didn't get really serious until I was in high school. ALEX MCCANN The thing that I just discovered, which fascinates me really - my name, McCann, the translation isn&... RORY MCCANN I see a lot of loyalty and commitment. In our businesses we have very little voluntary turnover. CHERYL MCCANN We started this on a whim four years ago. We don't want to make it any larger than it is. It really ... JIM MCCANN His stuff he had in Milwaukee was the same stuff he had tonight. BRIAN MCCANN We see people coming in who want the flexibility. They want to work a couple of days a week. It's ju... CHERYL MCCANN I am pleased, I was a bit annoyed yesterday as I would have caught the breakaways for sure, DAVID MCCANN People actually have come in to see Carol. CHERYL MCCANN We're always looking to advance as many as we can. We're happy with nine, I feel bad for Sammy (Mart... KEVIN MCCANN I was a lumberjack for years, a pub bouncer, I've sung in a band; in fact, I still sing, and I e... RORY MCCANN I'm on my boat, training, rehearsing; I spend all my energy on the job that's coming up, and... RORY MCCANN I'm just about to move to a place that you can only get there by rowing a boat across a loch, wh... RORY MCCANN So much is yet to come. Soon will be blankets and pillows, and books by the bed to make the stuff of... JIM MCCANN Our mentality is that we're going to play the same if it's the seventh game of the World Series or a... BRIAN MCCANN You know, he's one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Just to get a pitch up, out over the plate,... BRIAN MCCANN We'll just have to regroup and come back next year. We're really not thinking about next year right ... BRIAN MCCANN Pressure wasn't the problem. Everyone has pressure on them at this level. He threw really well. If w... BRIAN MCCANN The ministry is doing a great job helping people. What happens when the help stops? Is the city taki... TOM MCCANN It's like, it doesn't even matter to me. I just want to play at that next level. DEE MCCANN I'm anxious. Little nervous. You know how it is. You never know until that day comes. DEE MCCANN This takes a lot of pressure off of us. Win or lose we still have the Big East title. DEE MCCANN Step by step. Just focus. DEE MCCANN They were saying they were coming in to take the Big East. I don't see that happening. DEE MCCANN I had my fingernails in his jersey and he stepped away. He's got a lot of speed and quickness, but h... DEE MCCANN My parents aren't giving any pressure on distance, ... This will be my decision, totally. It will be... BRYAN MCCANN There is more emotion playing defense, ... If you make a mistake but are going hard, you can s... BRYAN MCCANN I have offers from UAB , SMU , Northwestern and Stanford, ... Stanford offered toward the end of my ... BRYAN MCCANN With the magnitude of the game, catching 18 innings, it didn't seem like that, ... If it was a regul... BRIAN MCCANN You couldn't write a better script, ... for any of this. BRIAN MCCANN Certainly it seems like it's better to leave business on the table rather than take on something you... JIM MCCANN I thought yesterday was made for me, but I guess I was a day out. DAVID MCCANN He broke the law in Canada and so if we are going to let him be charged he should be charged here, w... DAVID MCCANN If he gets charged in Canada that will have major legal consequences for that extradition request. DAVID MCCANN We are really strong. We're in a good position. But there is a long way to go in this race, and anyt... DAVID MCCANN [They can be used to react quickly to reports about Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the area, said J.... KELLY MCCANN We're just frustrated because we were told one thing and that turned out not to be the case, JACK MCCANN The county judge (Dale Haas) then told me to go ahead and if nothing worked the county would pick up... JACK MCCANN I was told to talk with the Red Cross, ... I talked with Mark (Massey) with the Red Cross and he sai... JACK MCCANN I was told they would need at least one officer at the shelter 24-7, ... I was told the state (Depar... JACK MCCANN Two weeks ago, an employee with the governor's office called me at my office and said several evacue... JACK MCCANN I didn't murder him, he was already dead when I cut his throat. JACK MCCANN I want to prepare her that, if he's coming back here, there are going to be some problems -- to what... JACK MCCANN Whether anybody agrees with it or not, he has served his sentence, JACK MCCANN I want to prepare her that, if he's coming back here, there are going to be some problems ? to what ... JACK MCCANN It's extraordinarily difficult. It forces challengers to be extremely creative or have deep pockets ... JAMES MCCANN It's vitally important that we succeed and continue to raise money, JAMES MCCANN A lot of different things go into the mix when determining whether or not Roberts is confirmed. The ... JAMES MCCANN The senators will want to ask about views on presidential powers, women's rights and minorities, bec... JAMES MCCANN has a problem with that. JAMES MCCANN God cuts out our path, makes a groove in the clay with His finger, and we poor blind ants slide down... MARIA MCCANN We try to look at what events may occur that will involve Army forces. LYNNE MCCANN This is a larger effort within the Defense Department for language studies and cultural awareness. T... LYNNE MCCANN Our cemeteries are very unique and I know when people come to New Orleans, tourists and all, they lo... LUCY MCCANN There are so many factors driving employers away from retiree health benefits ? ... escalating healt... LAURIE MCCANN The seniors all had a great season, it was an awesome year. Next year we will have high expectations... LAMONT MCCANN It was a really tough tournament. We did well. I was proud of their day, we got a lot accomplished a... LAMONT MCCANN We really didn't know what we had with Shane until after the Sierra Nevada Classic. Some schools hav... LAMONT MCCANN People are a lot more aware that there is treatment for sleep disorders. They are also less willing ... KATHLEEN MCCANN With the growth of sleep centers, a lot are fly-by-night. They're not equipped to provide a proper e... KATHLEEN MCCANN I have friends who are blacksmiths in the north of Scotland, so I took a few master classes with,the... RORY MCCANN