Katie Coan

“The theory of entanglement is of course integral to quantum physics. It was also the inspiration for this book—in a way. Just before the pandemic, I read an article in an older (2015) issue of Science News about new research that showed that women carried genetic material in their bodies, not just from their parents but from their children—even children that they didn’t carry to full term. During pregnancy, cells slip back and forth between mother and child in a process called fetal-maternal microchimerism, and some of these cells remain in the mother even after the child is gone. They’ve found this DNA in women’s brains decades later. What this means is that mothers are chimeras—they hold in their bodies bits of their mothers and their children. Walt Whitman was on track when he said, “I contain multitudes.” While scientists have not yet determined exactly why this is so, or what the purpose may be, my own brain leaped to the fact that in my family, my mother and sisters and I, as well as my daughters, share a weird feyness—I can think of my mom and the next thing I know she’s calling me. Or I’ll have a dream about my sister and something significant has happened to her. If we all have cells from each other in our bodies, doesn’t it make sense that we are “entangled”? The idea would not leave me alone, and I began thinking of adoption, and women who are separated from their children, and from there, the idea for A Dangerous Education came slowly and painfully into shape.”
― Megan Chance, A Dangerous Education

“It’s a girl!” Cecelia cried. The elephant evaporated, the squeezing stopped, and Julia was herself again. Mostly herself, anyway. She realized that she was most certainly a mammal and had the ability to shake the world apart and create a human when she unleashed her power. She was a mother. This identity shuddered through her, welcome like water to a dry riverbed. It felt so elemental and true that Julia must have unknowingly been a mother all along, simply waiting to be joined by her child. Julia had never felt like this before. Her brain was a gleaming engine, and her resources felt immense. She was clarity. Julia held the baby for what felt like only a few seconds before the nurse whisked the infant to the nursery to be washed and wrapped in a blanket. Cecelia left the room to tell the others the news. Julia shook her head, in disbelief and joy. She couldn’t believe how fast her mind was moving, but perhaps these truths had been inside her all along and were accessible now because she’d given birth. She saw everything so clearly.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“But do we know how to make love stay?'
I can't even think about it. The best I can do is play it day by day.”
― Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker

“Passion isn't a path through the woods. Passion is the woods. It's the deepest, wildest part of the forest; the grove where the fairies still dance and obscene old vipers snooze in the boughs. Everybody but the most dried up and dysfunctional is drawn to the grove and enchanted by its mysteries, but then they just can't wait to call in the chain saws and bulldozers and replace it with a family-style restaurant or a new S and L. That's the payoff, I guess. Safety. Security. Certainty. Yes, indeed. Well, remember this, pussy latte: we're not involved in a 'relationship,' you and I, we're involved in a collision. Collisions don't much lend themselves to secure futures...”
― Tom Robbins, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas