Alice McDermott

“What is wrong with you?” their father was saying. “Why can’t you behave?” Michael—it was not fear on his face, only a…

— Alice McDermott

“It was already there,” he said. “Someone left it behind. They didn’t want it. The super said they couldn’t even rent the…

— Alice McDermott

“That night when he came to claim her, he stood on the short lawn before her house, his knees bent, his fists…

— Alice McDermott

“trimmed border of his hair. All that trying to be charming and trying to be demure and hoping to look attentive and…

— Alice McDermott

“Pauline examined her face for a few seconds more, her jaw set. And then she smiled a little, not kindly, raising her…

— Alice McDermott

"Someone": I understood that this was a character who in her own life her voice hadn't much been heard and in literature…

— Alice McDermott

“like the small votives they lit in church.) Sometimes the houses were deserted, even partially destroyed. Sometimes it seemed the families must…

— Alice McDermott

“And then the thrashing of the wind against the house and then what might have been a volley of pistol shots, and…

— Alice McDermott

“He leaned toward her, slowly raising his hand to his hat and then doffing it quickly, as if taken by surprise, when…

— Alice McDermott

“the wind moved a thin scrim of sand across the bleached asphalt, brushed it along the ground in wide, crossing arcs that…

— Alice McDermott

“When Mrs. Keane whispered, between contractions, that the baby was coming at least six weeks too soon, he shook his head and…

— Alice McDermott

“The servants were evil,” he said, recalling the tale the way the whiskey priest they sent to Creedmoor told it, sitting with…

— Alice McDermott

As a writer, I'm too busy and worried to experience the delight while composing my own work, although, of course, I hope…

— Alice McDermott

“Steinway,” he said, his tongue poked behind his lips as if to suppress a boastful smile. Stepping out of the elevator she…

— Alice McDermott

“She leaned heavily against the front door, put her hand on the doorknob and although her husband had said nothing of his…

— Alice McDermott

“His love for his children bore down on his heart with the weight of three heavy stones. There were all his unnamed…

— Alice McDermott

“There was still more music to listen to after they had fallen apart. She thought she was beginning to recognize some refrain,…

— Alice McDermott

“Thanks so much for this,” she said as he pulled to the curb. She put the strap of her pocketbook over her…

— Alice McDermott

“beach. They were perfectly safe. Michael’s head crested the dune again. Then his shoulders, the rump of his blue jeans, the short…

— Alice McDermott

“Michael had slipped beyond the crest of the dune. Jacob was lying flat out now, on his stomach, his little men all…

— Alice McDermott

“She paused, her eyes joyous, her lips pursed, her cheeks drawn in, as if the piece of news were butterscotch in her…

— Alice McDermott

“He pulled the door closed and the wind became just the slightest rush of air against the rolled-up windows. There was suddenly…

— Alice McDermott

“Then he noticed her boys. They were standing side by side at the edge of the driveway, their plastic guns still in…

— Alice McDermott

“winter morning sun that came from beneath the wooden blinds and marked the new day. Another day. She grew giddy with laughter,…

— Alice McDermott

“Mary Keane saw how the news made Michael pause, and then change his mind about rolling down the window. He lifted the…

— Alice McDermott

“His love for his children bore down on his heart with the weight of three heavy stones. There were all his unnamed…

— Alice McDermott

“He folded back the hem of her housedress. Peeled the wet underpants from her skin and moved them down over her pale…

— Alice McDermott

“In her own room, she pulled back the covers, took the rosary beads from under her pillow, and got into bed. Joyful,…

— Alice McDermott

“She turned back to her sandwich. And here, of all things, was desire again. (She could have put the palm of her…

— Alice McDermott

“The man beside her rubbed his cigarette into the plate, then stood, swinging away from her on the stool and causing a…

— Alice McDermott

“Once, ten years ago, at a Sunday-afternoon party in some apartment that she remembered now as being labyrinthine, although it probably had…

— Alice McDermott

“Coming,” he cried when the rapping began again, on the heels of a distant roll of thunder, and in the instant before…

— Alice McDermott

“Once more into the breach,” he said, turning up his collar. “Wish me luck.” For an odd second, she thought he might…

— Alice McDermott

“He was handsome enough—dark eyes and a nice chin, though his hair was thinning. He wore a dark overcoat and a dark…

— Alice McDermott