“Emotional grandeur, rendered in the vernacular, has been Mona Simpson'...” — Stacey D'Erasmo Quote

“Emotional grandeur, rendered in the vernacular, has been Mona Simpson's forte. In her novels, 'Anywhere but Here,' 'The Lost Father' and 'A Regular Guy,' Simpson wrote wide and long and high about the most profound human bonds: parents and children lost each other, found each other, lost each other again, but differently.”

“'The Girls' tells the story of Rose and Ruby Darlen, who are not only literally but spiritually attached for eternity. Born joined at the head in 1974 to a feckless teenage mother who abandons them, and reared by a delightfully open-minded adoptive couple, the Darlen girls are darling girls, indeed.”

“The bonds of love are what connect us to the other side.”

“I love the bonds you get to build with your teammates, your brothers.”

“Today we're more distanced from each other, the bonds formed at the local shop replaced by the massive supermarket or the stressed driver thrusting a package through a letterbox. Instead of meeting in pubs, more of us sit at home with supermarket wine and Netflix.”