“Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel. And the skeleton of a house can… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“In Kinvara, poor as we were, and unstable, we at least had family nearby, people who knew us. We shared traditions and… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“She has never tried to find out what happened to her family — her mother or her relatives in Ireland. But over… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“look at the painting again. Despite the obvious differences, this girl is deeply, achingly familiar. In her I see myself at twelve… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Over the years, certain stories in the history of a family take hold. They're passed from generation to generation, gaining substance and… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“As with Dutchy and Carmine on the train, this little cluster of women has become a kind of family to me. Like… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“We mark the days by chores that need to be done, the way farm families have always done. Al feeds the hens… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“It had been two years since we left our home on the west coast of Ireland. Life was hard there, too; our… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Mr. Grote shows me how he grows wild rice in the stream and collects the seeds. The rice is nutty and brown. He plants… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“I try to forget the horror of what happened. Or—perhaps forget is the wrong word. How can I forget? And yet how can I… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“don’t know how much of my memory of this time is affected by my age now and how much is a result of the… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“The stark gray sky and bare tree limbs feel more suited to her than the uncomplicated promise of sunny spring days.” — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Sometimes these spirits have been more real to me than people, more real than God. They fill silence with their weight, dense and warm,… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Every Easter she and her mother planted those crocuses near the fence beside the driveway, and soon enough a whole cluster of them, white… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Mr. Kaminski pulled a chain hanging from the pressed-metal kitchen ceiling, and light seeped from a bulb, casting a wan glow over a scarred… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Before we leave the gravesite, Mary sings Mother's favorite gospel hymn ... Mary's lovely voice rises and lingers in the air, and by the… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“for the first time since the fire, my worries are gone. I feel a joy so strong it’s almost painful—a knife’s edge of joy.” — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“What was it the teacher in her Legal Issues class said the other day? Never bring up a point you don’t have an answer… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
“Mrs. Scatcherd raps Dutchy's knuckles several times with a long wooden ruler, though it seems to me a halfhearted penalty. He barely winces, then… — Christina Baker Kline Copy Share Image
