Kathryn Harrison

“A lot of writers dwell on their relationships with their mothers, but only a few are worth reading.”

“Rasputin's daughter understands the revolution. She would have been an outsider, a spectator in the royal family and to the revolution.”

“We know the seductive alchemy of art. To transform private anguish into a narrative of truth, if not beauty; to make sense where there was none; to bring order out of chaos - these are the promises art makes.”

“I don't care what people think about me. I care what people think about my work. As a young woman, I was so eager to please that I served others' happiness and even their values before my own.”

“I think in terms of the parents that I had, I sort of drew a bad hand, or bad karma; who knows? And I did have a family that was complicated, with some quite eccentric members. So there was a lot of grist there.”

“I used to enjoy reading true crime, but I've discovered that I don't have the journalism nose for blood.”