I do have an occasional temper - I sort of inherited my dad's short fuse.

I turned into the Greenbrier High School parking lot with a singular mission: figure out a way to keep my brothers from chasing off every guy who seemed interested in me.

I never thought to ascribe my mother's emotional and physical exhaustion to the lack of a husband and father; rather, I ascribed it to my existence. In other words, I grew up learning the exact...

She tries to wear her pain on the inside. She always has. It's the trademark of the oldest sibling, I think.

The American family shattered for the simple reason that it was American, not global.

He sits, strong and blunt as a Celtic cross, Clearly used to silence and an armchair: Tonight the wife and children will be quiet At slammed door and smoker's cough in the hall.

All the profits that Papa made by the sweat of his brow from his mill she extorted from him and spent the lot on expensive dressmakers who made her luxurious dresses. But she was too mean to wear...

Zoe also knew her stepmother did not love her. Or even like her very much. In truth, Zoe was pretty sure her stepmother hated her. Sheila treated her at worst as an irritant, at best as if she were...

"It's called Two and a Half Men," Dermot was telling his guest. "I understand," Bellenos said. "Because the two brothers are grown, and the son isn't." "I think so," Dermot said. "Don't you think the...

If you have always suspected your sister of an inclination to madness, it will be my pleasure to confirm your worst fears.

Parents might not be keen on the idea of seeing each other, but then essentially

Penelope {the parrot} squawked, 'I'll do it because I want to but not because you tell me to!' Mary was certainly surprised at that because she thought that had made up that brilliant remark. She...

Miriam came to consider Eliza a gosling born into a family of ducks, loved and accepted, but always and forever a goose.

In the prosperous household of Sylvie's childhood, Cook was called 'Cook' but Mrs Glover preferred 'Mrs Glover'. It made her irreplaceable. Sylvie still stubbornly referred to her as Cook.

I bet they'd be divorced by now if I hadn't been born. I'm sure I was a huge disappointment. I'm not pretty or smart or athletic. I'm just like them - an ordinary drone dressed in secrets and lies. I...

In truth Mr Jonas Silk was as niggardly as he was jealous, and my sister Beatrice had as much interest in Kansas as she did in the czar of all the Russias, and so my brother Mr. Horace Silk worked out...