“When I was an impoverished graduate student, I would sometimes spend $20 or $30 on a T-shirt or accessory I didn't need or even particularly want. What I craved was the purchase, not the thing itself. Of course, a sense of not being deprived may fill an emotional void without ruinous consequences.”

American novelist and essayist

Siri Hustvedt is an American novelist and essayist known for her wide-ranging prose across fiction and nonfiction. She is the author of a book of poetry, seven novels, two books of essays, and several works of nonfiction. Her books include The Blindfold, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, What I Loved, A Plea for Eros, The Sorrows of an American, The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves, The Summer Without Men, Living, Thinking, Looking, The Blazing World, Memories of the Future, and Ghost Stories. What I Loved is the book for which she is best known, and What I Loved and The Summer Without Men were international bestsellers. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.