Quotes by Kim Edwards

My first job was in a nursing home - a terrible place in retrospect. It was in an old house, and the residents were so lonely. People rarely visited them. I only stayed there a couple of months, but it made a strong impression on me.

— Kim Edwards

The way we behave, our views and outlooks really have their sources some place. They come from somewhere. Sometimes we don't even know what they are, and yet they're very powerful in our lives.

— Kim Edwards

Though Lexington is not a small town, it sometimes feels like one, with circles of acquaintance overlapping once, then again; the person you meet by chance at the library or the pool may turn out to be the best friend of your down-the-street neighbor. Maybe that's why people are so friendly here, so willing to be unhurried.

— Kim Edwards

Friendship

After 'Memory Keeper's Daughter,' it took me a few months to shut out the world. I really had to turn off the Internet and sort of cloister myself away from the world again and sink into that psychic space to write again.

— Kim Edwards

I never know as a writer when I set out into a novel where it's going to take me.

— Kim Edwards

I don't think we'll ever lose the desire for people to tell stories or to hear stories or to be entrapped in a beautiful story.

— Kim Edwards

It's impossible to control the reception of your work - the only thing you can control is the experience of writing itself, and the work you create.

— Kim Edwards

Success

William Trevor is an author I admire; his stories are subtle and powerful, and beautifully written.

— Kim Edwards

As a writer and as a reader, I really believe in the power of narrative to allow us ways to experience life beyond our own, ways to reflect on things that have happened to us and a chance to engage with the world in ways that transcend time and gender and all sorts of things.

— Kim Edwards

I always talk to my students about the need to write for the joy of writing. I try to sort of disaggregate the acclaim from the act of writing.

— Kim Edwards

Happiness

I had a great life even before 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' took off. I really enjoy teaching.

— Kim Edwards

Happiness

I like clothes that are elegant and comfortable.

— Kim Edwards

I like to think I've grown as a writer and taken some risks, but I still consider myself to be a literary writer.

— Kim Edwards

'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides left me both moved and, at times, laughing out loud in delight.

— Kim Edwards

'The Lake of Dreams' grew gradually, over many years, elements and ideas accruing until they gained enough critical mass to become a novel.

— Kim Edwards

Hope

There was a sense that there was a lot of word of mouth happening with 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter,' even in hardcover.

— Kim Edwards

Though my stories aren't autobiographical, I do sometimes use things from my life.

— Kim Edwards

We all have secrets. We've all kept secrets. We've had secrets kept from us, and we know how that feels.

— Kim Edwards

You don't know when you are immersed in a book what the reaction to it will be, but I feel great about 'The Lake of Dreams.'

— Kim Edwards

Hope

You don't want to engage in road rage when the person in the next car might be your child's future teacher or your dentist's father.

— Kim Edwards

Education

Your understanding of a place changes the longer you stay; you discover more, and your own life gets woven into the fabric of the community.

— Kim Edwards

I find my husband's family history fascinating, as they can trace the family lineage back to ancestors who fought, and died, in the first battle of the Revolution, as well as to many other interesting people.

— Kim Edwards

I've always set my stories in places I know well. It frees me up to spend more imaginative time on the characters if I'm not worrying about the logistics.

— Kim Edwards